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RESEARCH
FACILITATING CRITICAL THINKING WITHIN THE NURSING PROCESS FRAMEWORK: A
LITERATURE REVIEW
Prof MM Chabeli
D Cur
Associate Professor: Department of Nursing Science, University Of Johannesburg, Johannesburg
Corresponding author: maryc@uj.ac.za
Keywords: critical thinking; nursing process; facilitation; clinical nursing education

ABSTRACT
This article intends to describe how critical thinking of learners can be facilitated or infused in clinical nursing
education using the identified core cognitive critical thinking skills, their related sub-skills and the affective dispositions. The desire of the researcher to apply these critical thinking skills in clinical nursing education was in
response to the recommendations made by experts in critical thinking who conducted the Delphi research project
about the concept analysis of critical thinking (Facione, 1990:6, 13). The recommendations made urge educators to
develop programmes and teaching and assessment instruments to facilitate or measure critical thinking using the
identified core cognitive thinking skills. Nurses should be critical thinkers because they deal with the lives of
patients. They are faced with challenges in their daily practice which require the ability to make rational and critical
clinical decisions and also make astute clinical judgment that are logical to solve health related problems. Critical
thinking is understood to be purposeful, self-regulatory judgments which result in interpretation, analysis, evaluation
and inference, as well as explanation of the evidential, conceptual, methodological, criteriological or contextual
considerations upon which that judgment is based (Facione, 1990:2). The core cognitive thinking skills are supported and driven by the identified affective dispositions such as inquisitiveness, analytical thinking, open- and fairmindedness, flexibility, self-confidence, being systematic, truth-seeking and a mature attitude. An exploratory and
descriptive approach was used to describe how critical thinking of learners can be facilitated in clinical nursing
education. Since critical thinking can not be facilitated in a vacuum, the author used the theoretical framework of
critical thinking identified by critical thinking experts in a Delphi study (Facione, 1990:6, 13) within the nursing
process framework (Wilkinson, 1992:29) and other relevant literature to demonstrate how critical thinking can be
facilitated were used. Content validity of the study is ensured based on the two theoretical frameworks. Recommendations to apply the identified critical thinking skills and the dispositions are made.

OPSOMMING
Hierdie artikel het ten doel om te beskryf hoe kritiese denke by leerders in kliniese verpleegonderwys gefasiliteer
kan word deur die geïdentifiseerde kern-kognitiewe kritiese denkvaardighede, hul verwante sub-vaardighede asook
affektiewe disposisies te gebruik. Die navorser het in reaksie op aanbevelings wat gemaak is deur kundiges op die
gebied van kritiese denke wat die Delphi-navorsingsprojek oor die konsepanalise van kritiese denke geloods het
(Facione, 1990:13) die behoefte ervaar om hierdie kritiese denkvaardighede in kliniese verpleegonderwys toe te pas
Die aanbevelings moedig opvoeders aan om programme en assesseringsinstrumente te ontwikkel wat kritiese
denke kan meet deur van die geïdentifiseerde kern-kognitiewe denkvaardighede gebruik te maak. Verpleegkundiges
behoort kritiese denkers te wees aangesien hulle met die lewens van pasiënte werk. In hul daaglikse praktyk staar
hulle uitdagings in die gesig wat ‘n bevoegdheid vereis om rasionele en kritiese kliniese besluite te neem asook om
intelligente, kliniese oordele te maak wat logies is vir die oplossing van gesondheidsverwante probleme. Kritiese
denke word verstaan as ‘n doelgerigte, self-regulerende beoordeling wat kulmineer in interpretasie, analise, evaluering
en inferensie, sowel as die verantwoording van die bewysgronde, konseptuele, metodologiese, kriteriologiese of
kontekstuele oorwegings waarop die beoordeling geskoei is (Facione, 1990:2). Die kern-kognitiewe denkvaardighede
word ondersteun en aangedryf deur die geïdentifiseerde affektiewe disposisies, soos weetgierigheid, analitiese

HEALTH SA GESONDHEID Vol.12 No.4 - 2007

69
denke, openheid en regverdigheid van denke, buigbaarheid, selfvertroue, ‘n sistematiese ingesteldheid, ‘n soeke
na die waarheid en ‘n volwasse houding. ‘n Verkennende, beskrywende benadering is gebruik om te beskryf hoe
kritiese denke van leerders in kliniese verpleegonderwys gefasiliteer kan word. Aangesien kritiese denke nie in ‘n
lugleegte gefasiliteer kan word nie, het die navorser gebruik gemaak van die teoretiese raamwerk van kritiese
denke soos deur die kundiges in die Delphi-studie geïdentifiseer (Facione, 1990:6, 13), asook ander relevante
literatuur om te demonstreer hoe kritiese denke binne die verpleegprosesraamwerk gefasiliteer kan word (Wilkinson,
1992:29). Inhoudsgeldigheid van die studie is verseker deur en gebaseer op die twee teoretiese raamwerke.
Aanbevelings om die geïdentifiseerde kritiese denkvaardighede en disposisies toe te pas, word gemaak.

INTRODUCTION
The infusion of critical thinking skills in nursing education has been a worldwide quest of nurse educators to
ensure quality improvement and quality assurance in
practice. There is a great need for facilitation of critical
thinking in the preparation and assessment of nurse
learners to care for patients with complex culturally diverse health care needs and their families. To make
rational clinical decisions about unique individual care
requires nurses to stretch their thinking beyond the book
knowledge. Learners have to reach out to meaningful
understanding, to stretch into areas beyond comfortable concepts and be able to guide themselves by internal mental processes (Vygotsky in Mellish, Brink &
Paton, 1998:32).
Nurses deal with the lives of people holistically and
therefore critical analysis of health related issues becomes mandatory to improve practice. Nurses who do
not demonstrate a critical spirit, will not demonstrate a
probing inquisitiveness, a keenness of mind, a zealous
dedication to reason, a hunger or eagerness for reliable information (Facione, 1998:9; Edwards, 2003:1142).
Nursing cannot afford nurses who are using strategies
such as guessing, acting on inferences made from incomplete information, who are not willing to consider
other people’s opinions, who are displaying disorganised
thoughts, applying unreasonable criteria, using illogical reasoning for making rational, clinical judgments
and who are not interested in facts, dialogue and arguments. Nurses who instead of engaging in the patients’
health problems, jump to conclusions, make closure
without absolute certainty or hold their own reasoning
abilities in low esteem will not be helpful in practice. An
unfair, close-minded nurse who is inflexible, insensitive
and ready to give up in complex situations poses a
hazard to patients.

70

The days of “just carry out the doctor’s prescription
without understanding the effects and side effects of
the treatment” and conformity based on fear, are over.
The nursing profession does not need nurses who will
just carry out daily routines without question, rely on
routine activities and protocols to meet the divergent
health needs of patients and nurses who are counterproductive. Nurses subjecting themselves to be
handmaidens of other health professions, especially
when rational clinical decisions are to be made, should
be history. The traditional methods of teaching and
assessment that do not foster critical thinking of learners should be abandoned and approaches that encourage interactive dialogue, cooperation and collaboration
among learners to stimulate their critical thinking should
be used. The nursing profession needs critical thinkers
to maintain the credibility of the profession through the
provision of quality nursing care. The question that
emerges is: which critical thinking skills do the nursing
profession need to render excellent care to patients?
The nursing profession needs members of the team
who are not in competition with each other but are collaborating closely for the purpose of solving health related problems. The profession needs nurses who are
willing to collect comprehensive and reliable information from the patient and who will identify and analyse
the intended and actual inferential relationships among
statements, questions, concepts, descriptions or other
forms of representation intended to express belief, judgment, experiences, reason, information or opinions.
Nurses should examine ideas, detect, identify and
analyse underlying assumptions and arguments. The
nurse may paraphrase the information to give it meaningful interpretation. Nurses should decode and justify
the significance of the problem, categorise the information meaningfully and summarise complex ideas.
They should be encouraged to access their own knowl-

HEALTH SA GESONDHEID Vol.12 No.4 - 2007
edge-base and experience to address a clinical problem and work out a solution to the problem. The nurse
should offer various hypothesised physical, social or
psychological meanings and significance, interspersed
with queries to gain a better holistic understanding of
the patient. Nurses should devise sensible alternatives
to explore issues and should not become defensive if
those alternatives do not work. Nurses should formulate categories and create frameworks within which to
render quality patient care. They should be able to evaluate the significance of the evidence and explain exactly how a particular conclusion was reached or why
certain criteria apply and not others. Nurses should be
able to monitor and correct their actions if they were
not successful. The nurse should demonstrate orderliness, diligence, patience, reasonableness, persistence,
willingness, flexibility and precision when dealing with
health care issues (Facione & Facione, 1996:134;
Facione, 1998:9; King & Kitchener, 1997: 77).
Critical thinking cannot be facilitated or assessed in a
vacuum for it is used to apply basic core knowledge
and skills to each situation (Wilkinson, 1992:21). It requires a sound domain-specific knowledge base, integrated with interdisciplinary knowledge for processing
and analysing information, weighing alternatives and
deciding on actions to take in diverse clinical situations (Alfaro-LeFevre, 1999:10). Clinical nursing education is the context in this article where critical thinking skills of nurse learners are to be infused within the
broad nursing process framework. Clinical nursing education is a dynamic, constantly changing, real-life environment in which theoretical knowledge is integrated
with practice. The facilitator is responsible for creating
an environment that is conducive to the development of
critical thinking, while learners take the responsibility
for constructing their own knowledge and skills through
active interaction to promote critical thinking skills
(Chabeli, 2001:348). Clinical nursing education forms
an integral part of nursing education where the learner
is able to marry the theoretical component with practice using the nursing process approach.
The nursing process approach requires the nurse to
systematically collect data from the patient or family
during the assessment phase, making a nursing diagnosis, formulating the desired plans to solve them, initiating the plan or assigning others to implement it,
and evaluating the extent to which the plan was effec-

tive in resolving the identified problems. At every phase
of the nursing process, the nurse works closely with
the patient to individualise care and build a relationship
of mutual trust and respect (Kozier, Erb, Berman &
Snyder, 2004:243).
The teaching and learning activities for critical thinking,
if carefully planned, will form an integral part of the teaching and learning experience for learners rather than be
taken as something that distracts learners from the
business of learning. The type and quality of instruction or assessment can influence whether learners will
adopt a merely reproductive style or rather deep-holistic strategies of understanding (Quinn, 2000:200).
Unfortunately, educators are not usually prepared by
their training for such dynamic flux, unpredictability and
complexity. Paul (1993:97) is of the opinion that educators are in the firing line when instructing or assessing critical thinking of learners in practice. Educators
should be willing to bring rigour to their own disciplined
critical thinking in order to help learners to attain this
ideal. Educators must be willing to role model their critical thinking abilities so that learners can internalise
these skills and become confident in their instruction
and assessment activities. These are, according to Paul
(1993:97), profound challenges to the profession since
critical thinking is at the heart of well-conceived educational reform and restructuring because it is at the heart
of the educational changes of the 21st century. It is hoped
that the core cognitive critical thinking attributes will
assist nurse educators to facilitate critical thinking of
nurse learners during instruction or assessment.

THE PROBLEM OR POINT AT ISSUE
Much is being said about how critical thinking should
be facilitated, but exactly how critical thinking should
be facilitated or assessed to identify the empirical indicators to demonstrate that critical thinking has taken
place, are under-researched in clinical nursing education (Kamin, O’Sullivan, Younger & Deterding, 2001:2735; Beckie, Lowry & Barnett, 2001:18-26; Carolee &
Marilyn, 2003:1-9; Miller, 1992:1401-1407; Angela,
Duffey & Belyea, 2000:219-228).
The results of these studies do not indicate the evidential reasoning of the critical thinking process and the
outcomes that are to be assessed, that is, the pres-

HEALTH SA GESONDHEID Vol.12 No.4 - 2007

71
ence of critical thinking (Carolee & Marilyn, 2003:3).
Bowden (1988:24-25) notes that typical instruction and
assessment methods normally enhance passive, reproductive forms of learning, whilst at the same time
hide the inadequate understanding caused by such forms
of learning and assessment. Therefore, though learners may successfully negotiate the assessment system by being successful in their examinations, they
end their educational experiences as uncritical thinkers with little or no understanding of what they have
learnt. They are unable to use the acquired information
to manage their affairs, improve practice and deal with
the real world. Thus educators’ theoretical intentions
are not mirrored in the learners’ practice.

of the nursing process for the benefit of the patient. The
emerging research question to guide this paper is: how
can critical thinking of nurse learners be facilitated using the nursing process framework?

Critical thinking is one of the core cognitive competencies required for learners to become metalearners with
the aim of being self-directed lifelong learners.
Metalearning refers to the ability of the learners to plan,
execute, monitor and evaluate their own learning and
develop an awareness of their mental or cognitive abilities (Slabbert, 1991:88). The nursing process is regarded as a vehicle to facilitate critical thinking. The
development of the learner’s critical thinking skills is
mandatory since nursing is a challenging, complex and
culturally diverse hands-on profession that requires
astute power of clinical judgment, decision-making and
problem-solving skills in nursing practice.

The assumptions of the researcher

In spite of the benefits of the nursing process in facilitating critical thinking, nurse educators seem unable
to implement and manage the approach. The nursing
process and its administrative implementation are
heavily criticised as time-consuming for nurses. It is
argued that the role of nurses is to provide care and not
to be heavily engaged with the lengthy administrative
records involved with the nursing process (Field, in
Varcoe 1996:123). Varcoe’s argument is that there is
confusion between the theoretical critique of the nursing process and the critique of the administrative implementation such as documentation. Critical thinking
cannot be facilitated when the nursing process is used
in a robotic and dogmatic way, where nurses are mechanically efficient as evidenced by focusing on routine, mass production, assembly-line, task-orientated
methods to provide efficient patient care (Karola,
1995:36). It is for this reason that this paper seeks to
describe the core cognitive critical thinking skills and
the judicious use of these skills within the framework

72

Purpose and objectives
The purpose of the paper is to describe how critical
thinking of nurse learners can be facilitated using the
framework of the nursing process. This purpose is
realised by the description of the critical thinking core
cognitive thinking skills, their related sub-skills and the
affective disposition within the phases of the nursing
process. Recommendations will be made.

The researcher believes that nursing is concerned with
a unique and culturally diverse whole person, well or ill.
It is the very nature of the profession that demands
nurses who are critical thinkers to save lives and to
promote good health.

LITERATURE REVIEW
Varied perspectives on critical thinking exist in different contexts. Critical thinking is a complex behaviour
which is much needed in practice of any discipline and
for personal survival, yet to date there is no single,
simple definition for it (Wilkinson, 1992:24). Brief conceptual definitions of critical thinking will be provided.

Conceptual definitions of critical thinking
The concept ‘critical thinking’ is derived from its roots
in ancient Greek. According to Paul, Elder and Bartell
(1995:1), the word ‘critical’ derives etymologically from
two Greek roots: ‘kriticos’, meaning discerning judgment, and ‘kriterion’, meaning standards. Etymologically, the word implies the development of discerning
judgment based on standards.
The definition of critical thinking has been a concern to
most authors. Its clarification has been under scrutiny
for many years. Oermann (1998:322), a renowned nurse
author in critical thinking, stated that clinical nursing
education occurs in a dynamic, complex and challenging situation where nurses are expected to use critical
thinking as a fundamental principle to guide their ratio-

HEALTH SA GESONDHEID Vol.12 No.4 - 2007
nal decision-making process and clinical judgment logically in a systematic manner. Nurse authors adopted a
definition of critical thinking, adapted from the American Philosophical Association’s Delphi study conducted
in 1990, describing critical thinking as the process of
purposeful, self-regulatory judgment that includes the
cognitive skills of interpretation, analysis, evaluation,
inference, explanation, self-regulation and the related
dispositions (Oermann, 1998:322; Edwards,
2003:1144; Spelic, Parsons, Hercinger, Beckie et al.
2001:18; Facione & Facione, 1996:130). This definition characterises the daily functioning of a professional
nurse responsible and accountable for own actions,
omissions and commissions.
The American Philosophical Association’s definition of
critical thinking links with almost all the definitions of
critical thinking as defined by other authors indicated
below. The underlying common characteristic of the
definition of critical thinking is the use of core cognitive
thinking skills and justification based on evidence. These
cognitive thinking skills are guided by the affective critical thinking dispositions such as willingness, inquisitiveness, open-mindedness, being systematic, flexible,
truth seeking and developing cognitive maturity demonstrated by perseverance, tolerance, honesty and fairmindedness for the purpose of making rational decisions and solving problems in practice or in real life
situations. If one has to break down a cognitive thinking skill like analysis, one will realise that many thinking techniques are involved during the process of analysis such as, first having to identify concepts, assumptions, claims, thoughts and feelings, then examine,
categorise each cluster of information and re-examine
for better understanding or clarity. It is therefore important that further clarification of the core cognitive thinking skills be made later in this paper.
According to Bandman and Bandman (1988:5, 6) critical thinking is the rational examination of ideas, inferences, assumptions, principles, arguments, conclusions, issues, statements, beliefs and actions. This
examination covers scientific reasoning (inductive and
deductive), including the nursing process where decision-making and problem solving of controversial issues
are addressed. To elaborate on this definition, Bandman
and Bandman note that critical thinking is reasoning in
which nurses analyse the use of language, formulate
problems, clarify and explicate assumptions, weigh

evidence, evaluate conclusions, discriminate between
good and bad arguments, check inferences for plausibility and seek to justify those claims, beliefs, decisions, facts and values that result in credible beliefs
and actions. The researcher agrees with the authors
since nurses seek reasons for their thoughts, actions
and feelings. Nurses develop criteria and principles that
effectively justify their value judgments by asking relevant and challenging questions, questioning assumptions, assessing, investigating, inquiring and solving
complex health care problems of culturally diverse patients.
Critical thinking is also defined as a goal-oriented, purposeful mental activity involving a number of intellectual skills such as analysing, making inferences, clarifying ideas and evaluating the credibility of sources to
make accurate clinical nursing judgments. It is both an
attitude and a reasoning process (Wilkinson, 1992:9).
According to Wilkinson (1992:25), the following characteristics will help to determine when critical thinking
is taking place: when critical thinking is rational and
reasonable, and where the thinking is based on reasons using facts and observations to draw conclusions
rather than prejudice, preferences, self-interest or fears.
Critical thinking is reflective in that one does not jump
to conclusions or make hurried decisions but takes
the time to collect evidential information, think the matter through in a disciplined manner, weigh facts, make
conclusions and consider alternatives. Critical thinking
includes creative thinking where original ideas are created by establishing relationships among thoughts and
concepts. It involves the ability to break up and transfer
a concept or idea to new settings or uses. Critical thinking involves conceptualisation, which is the intellectual
process of forming concepts. Critical thinking is an attitude of inquiry. A critical thinker examines existing
claims and statements to see if they are true or valid
rather than blindly accepting them; critical thinkers are
sceptical in a constructive manner.
Critical thinkers will neither accept nor reject a belief
they do not understand. They will analyse and examine beliefs, accepting them for rational reasons or rejecting those they have been holding for the wrong reasons. They are not easily manipulated. Critical thinking is fair thinking. The critical thinking learner attempts
to remove bias and one-sidedness from their own think-

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73
ing and to recognise it in others. This requires learners
to examine the reasons for their choices and decisions,
to evaluate arguments and conclusions, create new
ideas or alternatives for action, decide upon a course
of action, produce reliable observations, draw sound
conclusions and solve problems. It also requires an
awareness of the learner’s own values and feelings and
a willingness to examine the basis for them. Critical
thinkers will explore the thinking that underlies their
emotions and feelings, suspend judgments when they
lack sufficient evidence, develop criteria for evaluation
and apply them fairly and accurately, and evaluate the
credibility of sources used to justify beliefs. Critical
thinkers make interdisciplinary connections and use
insights from one subject to illuminate and correct other
subjects, distinguish facts from ideals, examine assumptions that underlie thoughts and behaviour, distinguish the relevant from the irrelevant and the important
from the trivial, make plausible inferences, distinguish
conclusions from the reasoning that supports them,
seek out evidence and give evidence when questioned
(Bandman & Bandman, 1988:6; King & Kitchener,
1997:77).
The idea behind critical thinking is to find new ways of
thinking and doing things so as to allow creativity and
growth, personally as well as in practice. Developing
critical thinking is not an easy task. It requires one to
realise that these skills are important in a particular
context and deciding to commit and motivate oneself
to their development (Rossouw, 2003:10).
Nurses deal with the lives of the patients on a daily
basis where crucial clinical judgments have to be made
and therefore committing themselves in the development of critical thinking is mandatory. Through deductive analysis, the author defines critical thinking as a
purposeful, systematic, goal-orientated mental activity
that involves the core cognitive thinking skills supported
by the affective critical thinking dispositions. Critical
thinking is also described by the author as a reflective,
creative and a constructive reasoning process that use
evidential information to guide accurate, informed and
rational clinical decisions and solve problems in practice.
Nurses are expected to be purposeful in their actions
and consciously use intellectual standards of thought
processes such as precision, relevance, accuracy,

74

persistence, depth and breadth (Paul, 1993:54). Nurses
have to be precise and accurate in procedures. The
relevance, appropriateness, depth and breadth of both
the subjective and objective data gathered play an integral part in order to render comprehensive nursing care
to diverse patients. These nursing thoughts and actions require the use of critical thinking.
The author is of the opinion that nurses who are critical thinkers will constantly ask questions during a comprehensive assessment of the patient, such as how
accurate and relevant is the information collected, and
to what extent is the information related to the previous
history of the same problem. In some situations, nurses
have to paraphrase what the patient has said to determine the accuracy and relevancy of the information.
Such critical questions will generate in-depth information to enable the nurse to justify own decisions and
actions.
In this age of information explosion, and a complex,
challenging and culturally diverse health care delivery
system where the rights of the patients takes priority,
nurse learners are expected to be inquisitive, well-informed, trustful of reason, open and fair-minded. Nurses
are expected to be flexible, honest in facing personal
biases, prudent in making judgments, willing to reconsider, clear about issues, orderly in dealing with complex matters, diligent in seeking relevant information,
reasonable in the selection of evaluative criteria, and
persistent in seeking results which are as precise as
the subject and the circumstances of inquiry permit.
Nursing combines critical thinking skills with those dispositions which consistently yield useful insights and
which are the basis of a rational and democratic society (Facione, 1990:2, 13). This ideal is supported by
Rossouw (2003:10) who asserts that for an effective
democratic society or for success in almost any career in many other fields, critical thinking skills are important.
For decades, nursing and nurses have been working
toward the ideal of providing the best practice to individual patients using the nursing process as a scientific process, but to date, nurses have failed to develop
critical thinking skills through the use of the nursing
process (Botes, 2000:28). The researcher will make
use of the identified core cognitive thinking skills and
the related affective critical thinking dispositions to guide

HEALTH SA GESONDHEID Vol.12 No.4 - 2007
the teaching and learning of nurse learners in clinical
nursing education, however, nurse educators should
realise that a relaxed learning atmosphere with humour
will facilitate critical thinking and help offset the fear
especially during the assessment and evaluation situation.

CRITICAL THINKING AND THE NURSING
PROCESS IN CLINICAL NURSING EDUCATION
Since critical thinking cannot be facilitated or assessed
in isolation, the contextual consideration within which
critical thinking is to be facilitated or assessed in this
study becomes the hallmark of the activity (Facione,
1990:2; Wilkinson, 1992:21; Rolfe, Freshwaters & Jasper, 2001:72, 73; Rossouw, 2003:10; Simpson &
Courtney, 2002:91). Because of the nature of work in
the nursing profession, nurses must be educated and
assessed to promote critical thinking. A truly educated
nurse is able to use critical thinking to do something
creatively with the information acquired. Through critical thinking, one is able to form rational clinical judgment about what to believe or what actions to take in a
particular situation in practice (Ennis, 1985:45).
The nursing process, used effectively for the intended
purpose, is a powerful scientific vehicle to facilitate critical thinking. The nursing process is a special way of
thinking and acting that nurses use. It is also what
nurses do when giving patient care. It is a systematic,
problem-solving approach used to identify, prevent and
treat actual or potential health problems and promote
wellness. The nursing process provides the framework
in which nurses use their knowledge, skills, attitudes
and values to express human caring. The nursing process is a cognitive process that involves the use of
critical and creative thinking skills in problem-solving
and decision-making activities. Nurses use critical thinking to apply their nursing knowledge systematically and
logically to collect patient data. Critical thinking enables the nurse to determine the meaning of the data
and to plan appropriate nursing care (Wilkinson, 1992:1,
2).
Varcoe (1996:865) is of the opinion that the nursing
process is a systematic way of thinking, while Field (in
Varcoe 1996:123) argues that the nursing process is
an analytical thinking process used to guide system-

atic and rational decision-making in nursing practice.
However, the nursing process and its administrative
implementation have been criticised as time-consuming for nurses. The role of the nurse is to provide care
and not to be heavily engaged with the lengthy administrative records involved with the nursing process documentation. Varcoe’s argument is that there is confusion between the theoretical critique of the nursing process and the critique of the administrative implementation such as documentation. The widespread influence
of the nursing process on the nature of nursing practice has been debated for the past decade, yet the
centrality of the concept has grown in the past thirty
years within the educational, professional and economic
arena of nursing (Hiraki, 1997:866).
Critical thinking cannot be facilitated when the nursing
process is used in a robotic and dogmatic way, where
nurses are mechanically efficient (Karola, 1995:36).
While lack of clarity regarding the definition of the nursing process poses a problem in its use, and multiple
interpretations of it exist, it is argued that, with critical
and judicious use, the current benefits of the nursing
process could be preserved in the service of clinical
nursing education to improve practice (Varcoe,
1996:124). Nurse educators have the responsibility to
facilitate clinical nursing education within a broad framework of nursing process to stimulate critical thinking of
learners.
Nursing is concerned with the whole person, well or ill.
What makes the clinical nursing education and assessment process complex and difficult for nurse learners
is that human beings are unique and their clinical presentations are unique and diverse. These presentations
may not reflect what Oermann (1998:322) refers to as
“textbook characteristics” which were taught in the
classroom. This situation leaves the nurse unsure as
to what nursing intervention to use in a real-life, authentic situation where unstructured problems should
be addressed. Oermann (1998:324, 327) suggests that
one way to curb this problem is to apply cognitive critical thinking skills within the broad framework of the
nursing process. The educator can ask thought-provoking questions that are unique to the patient’s problems. The relationship between the core cognitive thinking skills, their related sub-skills and the nursing process will be described (Wilkinson, 1992:29; Facione &
Facione, 1996:133 Facione, 1990:6, 13).

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75
Description of the core cognitive critical
thinking skills and their related sub-skills
within the nursing process framework
The core cognitive thinking skills and their related subskills were identified by experts in critical thinking in

the Delphi study on the status of critical thinking directed by doctor PA Facione from 1987 to 1990. The
results also included the formulation of the consensus
conceptual definition of critical thinking and the characteristics of a critical thinker as already described in
this text (Facione, 1990:2). The nursing process’s theo-

Table 1: Core cognitive thinking skills, their related sub-skills, affective dispositions and the nursing
process (Facione, 1990:6, 13; Proferto-McGrath, 2003:571; Wilkinson, 1992:29)

NURSING PROCESS
(Wilkinson, 1992:29)

CORE COGNITIVE
CRITICAL THINKING
SKILLS AND SUB-SKILLS
(Facione, 1990:6)

Assessment

Analysis
Examining ideas, identifying
arguments, analysing
arguments
Interpretation
Categorisation, decoding
significance, clarifying
meaning
Inference making;
Synthesis; Hypothesise
Querying evidence,
conjecturing alternatives,
drawing conclusions
Inference making;
Generalising; hypothesising
Explanation – applying the
plan and testing the
hypothesis
Stating results, justifying
procedures, presenting
arguments
Evaluation
Assessing claims and
arguments
Self-regulation
(assessing; making criterionbased evaluations
Self-examination and selfcorrection

Diagnosing

Planning
Implementation

Evaluation

76

AFFECTIVE DISPOSITIONS
OF CRITICAL THINKING
(Facione, 1990:13;
Proferto-McGrath,
2003:571)
Analycity

Inquisitiveness

Open-mindedness

Systematicity
Self-confidence
Truth-seeking
Cognitive maturity

HEALTH SA GESONDHEID Vol.12 No.4 - 2007
retical framework and its phases through which critical
thinking of learners should be facilitated in clinical nursing education is in accordance with Wilkinson (1992:29)
indicated in Table 1 below. The core cognitive critical
thinking skills are bolded in the table.
A description of the core critical thinking skills, their
related sub-skills and the affective dispositions will be
made within the framework of the nursing process for
the purpose of formulating attributes that will assist
nurse educators to facilitate the critical thinking of nurse
learners in clinical nursing education. The generic nature of the attributes could be used widely within a given
clinical nursing context, since critical thinking is a necessary outcome of all educational programs (Staib,
2003:489; South African Qualifications Authority Act,
Act no 58 of 1996; South African Nursing Council 1999:
Document A; Van der Horst & McDonald, 1997:6, 217).
The skills reflected in Table 1 do not necessarily suggest a linear form of reasoning. The skills are employed

interactively and interchangeably in the reflective-reasoning process of making judgments about what to
believe or do. Simpson and Courtney (2002:93) purport
that, in thinking critically, a person not only tries to
determine judiciously what to do or what to believe, but
is also able to apply the core critical thinking skills to
the problem at hand. In other words, one may analyse
one’s own inferences, explain one’s own interpretation
or evaluate one’s own analysis. In practice, nurses
confronted with a patient with a severed femoral artery
find themselves having to implement their knowledge
and skills immediately using all the cognitive and affective dispositions simultaneously to save the life of
the patient. An experienced critical thinking nurse will
intuitively use all the steps of the nursing process simultaneously to provide specific emergency care to the
patient in any clinical situation.
Even though the steps of the nursing process are discussed separately for ease in understanding them, they
are actually inter-related and overlapping as indicated

Figure 1: Interdependent nature of the phases of the nursing process (Wilkinson, 1992:1)

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77
in Figure 1. Assessment and evaluation occur throughout all the phases as indicated by arrows and the overlapping of the circles when more justification based on
evidence is called for and to determine when the process of providing adequate nursing care is achieved.
Complete, accurate data provide the foundation for the
other steps – for example, the usefulness and validity
of the nursing diagnosis depend greatly upon the quality of the data collected in the assessment phase
(Wilkinson, 1992:41). The nurse has to be flexible in
considering the first line of intervention in order of priority, while considering other alternatives and opinions in
resolving the problem. The nurse has to consider orderliness and being systematic as well as persistence
and precision in working with a complex situation to
avoid further complications (Facione, 1998:8).

The assessment phase
Assessment is the first crucial step of the nursing process. It is the phase where the nurse systematically
gathers comprehensive, relevant, valid, reliable and
complete patient information from the patient and other
credible sources in order to identify health problems,
make a diagnosis, and then plan, implement and evaluate the nursing care given. The use of critical thinking
during the assessment phase is demonstrated in Figure 2. The nurse uses critical thinking to identify the
chief complaint and other health problems, collect information, analyse ideas and arguments, examine and
interpret data, categorise and decode the significant
data from the insignificant data and clarify the meaning
for better understanding. The nurse has to verify the
data with credible sources where there is doubt.
Throughout the assessment phase cognitive thinking
skills are supported by the affective critical thinking dispositions as indicated in the figure. The nurse has to
be inquisitive and analytic and ask probing questions
to collect a comprehensive health history from the patient. The nurse has to be open-minded, systematic
when collecting data, seek for the truth, and demonstrate self-confidence and cognitive maturity to the patient and relatives so as to build a good rapport and
develop a respecting and a trusting relationship with
the patient.
The core cognitive critical thinking skills and the subskills required during the assessment phase as identi-

78

fied in Table 1 are:

Analysis (examining ideas, identifying and
analysing arguments)
The first part of the assessment is to identify the main
or chief health problem from the patient or knowledgeable others. The nurse finds out what actually motivated the patient to seek health care. The chief complaint should be recorded in the patient’s own words
whenever possible. It should describe the problem and
its duration. The chief complaint gives direction to the
interview that follows. Thereafter the nurse should collect the demographic data, which consists of identifying data such as the patient’s name, date, age, marital
status, number of children, religion, occupation and
economic status. The nurse then systematically collects comprehensive, accurate, relevant, valid and reliable subjective and objective information from the patient through observation and an interview. The subjective data consist of the present and past health history,
and the family health history. The objective data are
collected by observation, physical examination and
examining and interpreting other measurements such
as diagnostic results. Review of the body systems is
made by making use of inspection, auscultation, percussion and palpation. Throughout the data collection
the nurse considers the patient’s input (Lewis & Collier,
1992:30, 31).
The cognitive skills of identification and analysis play
an important role in this phase. Analysing entails taking apart, disassembling and deconstructing in order
to perceive or establish a pattern or relationship/s
(Beyer, 1988:319). It is the process of breaking up a
whole into its parts to examine these in detail so as to
determine the nature of a phenomenon (Paul, 1993:458).
During the assessment phase the nurse learner is expected to explore, examine and analyse the information in detail in order to be able to identify the main
ideas, thoughts, key concepts, clues or patterns and
thereby have an understanding of the patient’s health
problem. The nurse inquisitively asks logical questions
to look for hidden, unstated and challenging assumptions that are taken for granted. The nurse demonstrates
critical thinking competencies of analysis by identifying and analysing arguments, by identifying the purpose of data collection, by scanning the data to identify clues or patterns of significance, by examining the
data or ideas to find “something germane that is, worth-

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Figure 2: Critical thinking during the assessment phase

while” to the purpose of assessment, by re-examining
the data to find additional supporting evidence or evidence contradicting the original inference, and by comparing and contrasting ideas and statements made by
the patient to confirm the evidence found in order to
establish patterns, conceptual links or other interconnections (Beyer, 1988:319).
Determining the significance or insignificance of data,
interpreting meaning and detecting possible inferential
relationships reflect the competencies of critical thinking skills (Proferto-McGrath, 2003:571). Critical thinking abilities are demonstrated when the learner is able
to determine and analyse relevant and irrelevant information. To determine reliable and unreliable information or sources and seeing similarities and differences
in the data collected characterise critical thinking abilities. Critical thinking is also demonstrated when learners are able to summarise information, are able to see
the structure of an argument and identify conclusions.
The ability to identify critical areas, predict consequences, observe cues and behavioural patterns that
add value to the collected data as well as being able to
assess and evaluate sources and make decisions

based on the available information demonstrate critical
thinking (Beyer, 1988:185). Analysis is a process of
weighing evidence and deciding if generalisations or
connections based on the given data are warranted. It
is imperative for nurse learners to verify data collected
when there are discrepancies in the information source
with the patient, significant others or any other relevant
credible source.

Interpretation (categorisation, decoding
significance, clarifying meaning)
Interpretation of data will be made when the information has been identified and critically analysed. According to Paul (1993:473), to interpret is to give one’s own
conception of, to place in the context of one’s own experience, perspective, point of view, or philosophy. It is
important in nursing that interpretation should be distinguished from the facts, the evidence and the situation. For example, a nurse may interpret the patient’s
silence as an expression of hostility. Such interpretation may or may not be correct. More facts, evidence
and justification are needed. The best interpretations
take the most evidence into account.

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79
During the assessment phase, it is not enough for the
nurse to state that the patient appears to be in pain.
More evidence is needed to confirm the claim such as
the patient adopting a curling position, facial grimace
or the patient verbalising the pain. When facilitating
critical thinking one should consider alternative interpretations and reconsider these interpretations in the
light of new evidence. Learning involves personal interpretation, since whatever a person learns must be integrated into one’s own thinking and action (Paul,
1993:473). What a person learns must be meaningful
to other people. Interpretation involves examining the
phenomenon and forming conclusions, considering the
implications, exploring the significance of the conclusions, generalising the findings and suggesting further
studies (Burns & Grove, 2001:771). Interpretation includes weighing evidence and deciding if generalisations
or conclusions based on the given data are warranted
(Watson & Glaser, 1980:2). Making interdisciplinary
connections by using other related subjects like
anatomy, physiology, micro-biology, pharmacology,
psychology, sociology, chemistry and physics will enhance the process of interpretation of data. Interpretation involves categorisation, decoding significance and
clarifying meaning (Facione, 1990:6, 7).
Categorisation of the collected data involves the
learner’s ability to describe situations, events and experiences so that they take on comprehensible meanings in terms of appropriate categorisation, distinctions
or frameworks, for example, to categorise according to
the existing frameworks such as Maslow’s hierarchy
of needs (Quinn, 2000:19), Orem’s self-care model or
Roy’s adaptation model (George, 1985:124-136, 300318). Decoding significance means to detect, to attend to, and describe the information content for better
understanding. Clarifying meaning ensures that the argument is expressed as clearly as possible so that it
is easy to tell whether the premises are true, whether
the logic is good and whether the argument is relevant
to the assessment of the patients’ health problems.
The premises of a logical argument must strongly support the conclusion – that is, one must believe in the
conclusion.
Clarifying requires one to outline the argument in standard format and paraphrase the argument for greater
clarity (Brookfield, 1987:68). During the assessment
phase of the nursing process the nurse learner should

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demonstrate the ability to clarify and give meaning to
the data collected. If there is doubt the nurse can paraphrase the sentence (Simpson & Courtney, 2002:92).
Paraphrasing or restating the patient’s ideas and subjective information in the nurse’s own words or clarifying the symptoms based on the information collected
indicates the occurrence of critical thinking. The assessment information must be recorded accurately in
appropriate documents.

Diagnosis phase
Nursing diagnosing is the second phase of the nursing
process which usually entails making a statement of a
health problem as perceived by the nurse (Wilkinson,
1992:76, 78). Diagnosis is an intellectual activity where
nurses use the diagnostic reasoning process to draw
conclusions about the patient’s health status and decide whether nursing intervention is needed. Diagnosis
provides the basis for giving individual care. The format
of stating a nursing diagnosis is highlighted; the nursing diagnosis is presented first and includes the problem and etiological statement – for example, pain related to surgical incision. Next, the defining characteristics that cue the nurse to this specific diagnosis are
listed – for example, complaints of pain, curled body
posturing, groaning sounds indicating pain, unwillingness to move in bed or to ambulate. Nursing diagnoses
must be listed in order of their priority. Figure 3 demonstrates the use of critical thinking skills during the diagnosis phase.
During the diagnosis phase, nurses use critical thinking skills such as inference-making, where synthesising
and hypothesis-making play an integral part. The nurse
learner is expected to query evidence as it comes,
conjecture alternatives and draw conclusions (Facione,
1990:9).

Inference-making (querying evidence, conjecturing alternatives, drawing conclusions, synthesising and hypothesising)
Inference is defined as the movement of thoughts that
proceeds from something given, a cue or data, to a
conclusion as to what that data mean or signify
(Bandman & Bandman, 1988:120). For example, a
twenty-five-year-old patient in an intensive care unit,
certified as being brain dead by a senior neurosurgeon,
has a cardiac arrest. Nurse X infers that as the patient

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Figure 3: Critical thinking and the diagnosis phase

cannot recover, given that the patient is brain dead,
resuscitation is futile and therefore Nurse X does not
call for help. Nurse Y is committed to the oath that
human life is so precious as to warrant all available
efforts by a nurse to save it. She infers that the young
patient’s life can be saved by resuscitation and continuous administration of oxygen to the brain cells.
Therefore, Nurse Y calls for cardio-pulmonary resuscitation. Bandman and Bandman (1988:113) further state
that making an inference is like leaping from the known
to the unknown, a hunch, a preliminary hypothesis, or
an inference that is either confirmed or disconfirmed by
further data until a diagnosis is reached.
Beyer (1988:112) believes that to infer is to draw conclusions, make predictions, pose hypotheses, test and
explain hypotheses. Paul (1993:115), on the other hand,
is of the opinion that inference is reasoning that proceeds by steps. To make an inference, according to
Paul, is to think as follows: because this is so, that
also is so or probably so. From the researcher’s perspective, another example of inference maybe: “I am
not sure I should have this surgery. It might not even
help, and it is so dangerous. I am scared”. This might

be inferred as: the patient is frightened of surgery. Any
defect in the inference one makes while one reasons is
a possible problem in one’s reasoning. Information and
situations do not determine what one will deduce from
them; one creates inferences through the concepts and
assumptions which one brings to situations. Inferences
bring together all the various elements needed to query
evidence collected, to draw reasonable conclusions and
to form conjectures and hypotheses (Proferto-McGrath,
2003:571; Facione, 1990:6).
Querying evidence in practice can be seen when the
nurse is not content with the evidence given. The nurse
recognises the information that requires support and
formulates strategies to seek and gather information
which might supply that support. The nurse critically
examines the depth and breadth of all the collected
data, states the actual and potential health problems
and prioritises them. Conjecturing alternatives requires
nurses to develop a set of options or alternatives for
resolving a given problem. They need to synthesise and
classify data into meaningful patterns and find patterns
and relationships to assist in deriving accurate diagnosis. The nurse will draw out prepositions and project

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81
the range of possible consequences of decisions. Drawing conclusions entails bringing together all the various
elements needed to state a reasonable diagnosis
(Proferto-McGrath, 2003:571).
However, the nurse may suspend judgment where there
is lack of sufficient evidence because evidence is required to convince one of an argument. The nurse must
demonstrate the affective critical thinking dispositions
such as willingness, openness and fair-mindedness to
accept new evidence from credible information sources.
The nurse must also show tolerance, flexibility and
genuine understanding of the patient’s opinion or point
of view. Diagnostic inference calls for more knowledge,
experience and insight to classify data into various
themes and patterns that will assist in the planning
phase (Facione, 1990:6). Interdisciplinary connection
plays an integral part during the diagnostic phase to
determine whether the diagnosis is physiological, social or psychological. Accurate recording of the diagnosis in a manner that facilitates the determination of
the expected outcomes using the appropriate format of
writing nursing diagnosis is important.

Planning
Use of inferences,
hypothesising

generalising,

Both nursing diagnosis and planning make use of the
inference cognitive thinking skill. In this phase the nurse
takes professional responsibility to work with the patient, significant others or use other credible sources
to develop individualised plans to prevent, eliminate or
reduce the health problems through goals and nursing
orders (Wilkinson, 1992:163). The nurse determines
problems that need individually developed plans and
those that can be addressed by routine interventions
contained in standards of care, model care plans, protocols and other forms of preplanned, routine care. This
requires critical thinking skills and creativity, as does
every phase of the nursing process as indicated in Figure 4.
Effective planning, like all other phases of the nursing
process, depends on the accuracy of other previous
steps and the ability to make interdisciplinary connections and use the insights from the behavioural and

Figure 4: Critical thinking during the planning phase

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physical sciences. Sound knowledge, good judgment
and decision-making abilities are required to effectively
plan and choose the methods the nurse will use to
intervene. In addition, the nurse must use ingenuity,
creativity and past experience, and must also consider
the patient’s cultural health care needs and practices
when tailoring a plan to meet the desired health goals,
for example, adopting a squatting position during childbirth is a characteristic of some black cultures. The
plan should be tailored to take note of particular nursing orders such as how, when, how long, how often, by
whom and with what to provide direction in the care of
the patient (Lewis & Collier, 1992:25).

plan for the consultation of other health professionals
for the intervention not directly related to nursing. The
plan should be within the legal and professional boundaries such as: the Constitution, Batho-Pele principles,
Scope of practice, patient’s charter, regulations, protocols and policies. The affective critical thinking dispositions are taken into consideration during the planning
phase such as flexibility, willingness, being analytical
and inquisitiveness. The plan, interventions and expected outcomes should be recorded accurately in the
appropriate documents.

The assessment data have to be comprehensive, complete, accurate, valid and reliable. The data have to be
verified with reliable and credible sources. The diagnostic statements should be correct for the goals and
nursing orders to flow logically for an individual, unique
plan for the identified health problems. The goals and
nursing orders serve to guide the nurse’s actions during the implementation phase and also serve later as
criteria for evaluating patient progress. Planning is ongoing depending on the new information as the nurse
gets to know the patient better and as the patient responds to the care given. During planning, the nurse
uses more inferences, generalisation and hypothesising
cognitive thinking skills to make rational mutual clinical decisions with the patient. The nurse and the patient derive goals from the diagnostic statements and
identify nursing measures to achieve those goals. When
generating nursing interventions, nurses use the cognitive skills of generalising, explaining and predicting.
Generating nursing interventions is similar to generating hypotheses in the scientific method in that the nurse
predicts the interventions most likely to achieve the
patient’s health goals (Wilkinson, 1992:29-32).

Implementation is the fourth phase of the nursing process in which the nurse applies the plan and puts the
hypothesis to test. The nurse carries out a specific,
individualised plan. Specific nursing interventions that
address the nursing diagnosis are then specified such
as the example made above of a patient suffering from
pain. The nurse has to assess the pain half hourly, give
pain medication every three to four hours as prescribed,
splint incision with pillows during coughing, deep breathing and moving exercises, and position the patient comfortably according to his or her needs. Finally, one or
more evaluation criteria are described that aid the nurse
in determining if the goals of the treatment have been
met. These include verbalisation of a satisfactory level
of pain control and turning in bed without making gestures that indicate pain (Lewis & Collier, 1992:1084).

It is important to note that planning of interventions
should be mutual, research-based, realistic, simple and
attainable, and must have measurable expected outcomes and time frames open to modifications based
on new evidence (Wilkinson, 1992:166). The nurse
should always create new ideas or alternative courses
of action regarding events or develop a variety of different courses of action to achieve the set goals if needed.
The development of the evaluation criteria that should
be applied fairly and accurately to evaluate the effectiveness of the plan is necessary. The nurse should

Implementation

The nurse may perform or designate to other capable
members the interventions that were developed in the
planning phase necessary for achieving the patient’s
health goals. When choosing an intervention, it is important to ask the following questions: will the intervention facilitate the patient’s progress toward a desired
outcome? Has the intervention been proven through
research, or is it based on experience or intuition, that
is, based on immediate insight of the nurse? The feasibility of successfully implementing the intervention must
be considered, as must the acceptability of the intervention to the patient and the capability of the nurse to
execute the intervention safely with competence. Thereafter, the nurse ends up by recording the interventions
performed and the resulting patient’s responses (Lewis
& Collier, 1992:25; Wilkinson, 1992:214). Throughout
the implementation phase the nurse must evaluate the
effectiveness of the method chosen to implement the

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83
plan. Referrals to other professionals should also be
made when the nurse anticipates that expertise in
specialised areas would help the patient. Figure 5 demonstrates the use of critical thinking during the implementation phase.

actions when the planned strategies do not work as
anticipated. Explanation plays an integral part in the
implementation phases, as it is within the patients’
rights to receive an explanation of the actions to be
performed on them.

Patient participation in the implementation phase plays
an integral part. However, it is important to note that
the degree of participation in this phase depends on
the patient’s health status and the available resources
as well as the type of action being considered. For
example, interventions in relation to a child, a quadriplegic or an unconscious patient would be very different and will require the participation of family members. The effectiveness of the implementation phase
depends largely on the nurse’s ability to create good
communication and building of good rapport with the
patient (Kozier et al. 2004:316). Critical thinking skills
are crucial in making a quick, on-the-spot rational decision in determining whether the interventions should
be dependent, interdependent/collaborative or independent/autonomous in nature (Lewis & Collier, 1992:18).
The nurse has to think rapidly of alternative courses of

Explanation (stating results, justifying procedures, presenting arguments)
Explanation means to state the results of one’s reasoning, to justify that reasoning in terms of the evidential, conceptual, methodological, criteriological and
contextual considerations upon which one’s results
were based and to present one’s reasoning in the form
of cogent arguments (Facione, 1990:10). When one
states the results, one produces accurate statements,
descriptions or representations of the results of one’s
reasoning activities so as to analyse, evaluate, infer
from, or monitor those results. One justifies and presents arguments based on one’s interpretations, analyses, evaluations or inferences, so that one can accurately record, evaluate, describe or justify those processes to oneself or to others, or so that one can remedy perceived deficiencies in the general way one ex-

Figure 5: Critical thinking during the implementation phase

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HEALTH SA GESONDHEID Vol.12 No.4 - 2007
ecutes those processes. When one is presenting arguments, one is expected to give reasons for accepting some claim, to meet objections to the method,
conceptualisations, evidence, criteria or contextual
appropriateness of inferential, analytical or evaluative
judgments.
Copi (1986:482) suggests the following aspects when
one asks the question “What is it that is wanted when
an explanation for something is required?”
An account: is a group of statements from which the
thing to be explained can logically be inferred and whose
acceptance removes or diminishes its problematic or
puzzling character. Explanation and inference appear
to be closely related because, given certain premises,
any conclusion/s that can logically be inferred from them
can be regarded as being explained by them. Given a
fact to be explained, we say that we have found an
explanation for it when we have found a set of premises
from which it can logically be inferred (Copi, 1986:483).
The chief criterion for evaluating explanations is relevance. Any proposed explanation is regarded as a
mere hypothesis, more or less probable on the basis
of the available facts or relevant evidence, and also
considering the attitude taken toward the explanation
in question (Copi, 1986:484). There is a continual search
for more evidence to decide that question. The term
‘evidence’ refers ultimately to experience: sense experience is the test of truth for all its pronouncements.
There are other criteria for deciding the worth or acceptability of proposed explanations, such as the truth,
for example, having an eye witness in an accident or
where it is applicable, or the verifiability of the explanation by providing additional premises (Copi, 1986:486;
Woolfolk, 1990:292).
Brown and Atkins (in Quinn, 2000:184) classify explanations as interpretive (that is they answer the question ‘What?’), descriptive (they answer the question
‘How?’) and reason-giving (that is they answer the question ‘Why?’). Brown (in Quinn, 2000:185) is of the opinion that when one is planning an explanation, one should
decide precisely what is to be explained in the form of
a question, identify any hidden variables, analyse the
topic into its main parts or key points and then establish any links between these, including any rules that
might be involved. Nurses care for a variety of patients
and therefore better explanations have more keys and

a greater variety of cognitive levels of keys. Better explanations also involve the use of examples, elaborations, qualifying statements, visual aids and rhetorical
questions and are more appropriately structured. Stimulating key points are also expressed in a simple statement. Writing a summary of the key points to be used
at the end of the explanation is important.
The implementation process uses cognitive thinking
skills such as justifying the decisions made and solving problems in clinical practice. The use of critical thinking, creative and reflective thinking skills with the related affective dispositions are crucial to the provision
of safe and intelligent nursing care. A comprehensive
implementation process must be specific enough and
recorded accurately and legibly in appropriate documents so that everyone taking care of the patient will
be able to agree on whether the set goals have been
achieved and also to avoid repetition of interventions
(Lewis & Collier, 1992:25). It must be explicit to enable
evaluation of the effective or ineffective intervention and
to decide whether referral to other health professionals
is necessary.

Evaluation phase
Evaluation (assessing claims and arguments)
Evaluation, as the fifth phase of the nursing process, is
a planned, ongoing, deliberate activity in which the
patient’s progress toward goal achievement and the
effectiveness of the nursing care plan are determined
(Wilkinson, 1992:261). Evaluation is ongoing throughout the various phases of the nursing process. The
nurse evaluates whether sufficient assessment data
have been obtained to allow a nursing diagnosis to be
made. The diagnosis is in turn evaluated for accuracy
and appropriateness to the patient’s health problem.
The nurse evaluates whether the expected outcome
and interventions are realistic and achievable. If not, an
alternative plan should be formulated. Consideration
must be given to whether the plan should be maintained,
modified or totally revised in the light of the patient’s
health status. The effectiveness of each intervention
and its contribution to progress towards the goal are
also evaluated. The patient’s progress should be documented in a systematic way according to the policy of
the institution. Figure 6 demonstrates the use of critical thinking during the evaluation phase.

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85
Critical thinking is an integral part of the evaluation
phase. It is used to assess the credibility of statements
or other representations made by the patient. To assess claims, the contextual relevance of the information gathered should be considered. A distinction also
has to be made between reasonable and fallacious inferences and the extent to which possible additional
information might strengthen or weaken an argument
has to be determined (Facione, 1990:8). Relevant facts
have to be identified, data analysed, and hypotheses
tested. When developing the criteria for evaluation, critical thinking is used to apply knowledge of other related
disciplines to the specific patient’s situation in order to
know what outcomes can reasonably be expected.
When collecting evaluation data, one will use critical
thinking to determine the significant data for the goal
being evaluated, to judge the congruence between predicted and actual outcomes. For example, if one

eliminating unsuccessful interventions and focusing on
actions that are more effective.

hypothesised during the planning phase that a particular nursing intervention would produce a desired patients’ outcome, in the evaluation phase one tests that
hypothesis (Wilkinson, 1992:262). Without evaluation,
nurses will not know whether the care they give actually meets the patient’s needs. Evaluation enables the
nurses to improve care and to promote efficiency by

where in the use of evidence.

Evaluation is the process of judging or determining the
worth or quality of a phenomenon. Evaluation has a
logical component and should be carefully distinguished
from mere subjective or imaginary performance. The
elements of its logic may be put in the form of questions which may be asked whenever an evaluation is to
be carried out (Paul, 1993:466), such as, do we have
sufficient information about that which is to be evaluated, is the information relevant or irrelevant to the purpose of evaluation, given the purpose, what are the relevant criteria or standards for the evaluation, have we
applied the criteria accurately and fairly to the facts as
we know them? Blandshard (in Wilson, 1999:167) argues that the main aim of education is practical and
reflective judgment, a mind trained to be critical every-

Self-regulation (self-examination, self-correction)
According to Facione (1990:10), self-regulation occurs
when one self-consciously monitors one’s cognitive
activities, the elements used in those activities, and

Figure 6: Critical thinking during the evaluation phase

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HEALTH SA GESONDHEID Vol.12 No.4 - 2007
the results deduced, particularly by applying skills in
analysis and evaluation to one’s own inferential judgment with a view to questioning, confirming, validating
or correcting either one’s reasoning or one’s results.
Self-regulation involves self-examination and self-correcting. The purpose of self-examination is to reflect on
one’s reasoning and verify both the results produced
and the correct application and execution of the cognitive skills involved. Self-correction, where self-examination reveals errors or deficiencies, is important. Learners should learn to design reasonable procedures to
remedy or correct, if possible, those mistakes and their
causes. Woolfolk (1990:215) states that self-regulation
is a very important aspect to learners. Nurse learners
must learn to regulate and manage their own lives, set
their own goals, provide their own reinforcement, observe their own work, keep track of their own daily
progress, keep records of it and assess their own performance by keeping reflective diaries, charts, checklists, and by recording their performance or behaviour
in question. Knowles (in Mellish et al. 1998:36) states
that learners with a positive self-concept have self-confidence, are self-regulatory and self-directed, taking
responsibility for their own learning. They can diagnose
their own learning needs, formulate their own learning
outcomes, identify their own learning resources, find
strategies for using these resources and assess their
own progress. Critical thinkers monitor the set goals
and reinforce high standards.
Self-regulation makes one realise one’s potential need
for examining and correcting oneself. One has the desire to excel and strive for excellence. A nurse learner
who has reached a self-regulatory level works harder to
strive for even greater knowledge and understanding.
The nurse is motivated. This motivation is endlessly
renewed (Woolfolk, 1990:314). The core cognitive thinking skills of critical thinking are continually supported
by the affective dispositions. The evaluation process
should also be accurately recorded. Should evaluation
reveal failure to meet the set goals and expected outcomes, the nurse should re-assess, re-diagnose, replan, re-implement and re-evaluate the process, that
is, the nursing process cycle begins.

Recording (accuracy, completeness, precision, clarity, legibility)

Although recording is generally not regarded as one of
the phases of the nursing process, it plays an integral
part in the process because it provides effective communication among health professionals necessary for
the continuity of care and for the maintenance of quality of patient care. When staff members take over shifts,
a report is handed over by the staff that was on duty to
convey information about the patient for continued health
care. Records are formal, legal documents usually admissible in court as evidence of the patient’s care, and
thus it is important that the nurse becomes accountable for recording on appropriate documents according
to the standards and policies of the institution (Kozier
et al. 2004:330). Whatever form of documentation is
followed, the principles of recording remain the same
as indicated in Figure 7.

Accuracy
Accuracy when recording is important. To be accurate
demonstrates that one is a thinking person. The patients’ particulars must be clearly written on the correct charts. Facts or observations rather than opinions
should be clearly written, for example, the patient refused medication is a fact, whereas to write that the
patient was uncooperative, is instead, an opinion or
own interpretation. Patient dissatisfaction or worry about
a diagnosis should be recorded verbatim and accurately,
without the nurse’s interpretation. When a recording
mistake is made, a line should be drawn through it and
the word “mistaken entry” should be written next to the
original entry with the initials or name of the nurse. The
original entry must remain clearly visible. Correct spelling
is essential for accuracy in recording. Incorrect spelling gives a negative impression to the reader and decreases the nurse’s credibility (Kozier et al. 2004:342).

Completeness/relevance
The information that needs to be recorded must be logically coherent, complete and helpful to the patient and
to the health professionals. Detailed and systematic
recording of the phases of the nursing process is mandatory. The patient’s progress toward the pre-determined goals must be communicated to other health
professionals through completeness of recording. Completeness in recording requires thinking on the part of
the nurse. Only relevant information about the patient’s
health problem and nursing care should be recorded.
Recording irrelevant information may be considered an
invasion of the patient’s privacy. Only information that

HEALTH SA GESONDHEID Vol.12 No.4 - 2007

87
nitive critical thinking skills, their related sub-skills and
the affective dispositions to produce innovative pedagogic
activities such as programme development, teaching
strategies and assessment tools to promote critical
thinking. Nurse educators should engage in disciplinary, multi-disciplinary, interdisciplinary and trans-disciplinary research to meet the broad challenges for
change in education.

CONCLUSION

Figure 7: Critical thinking during recording

has a direct bearing on the patient’s health problem
should be recorded and therefore relevant recording is
a thinking activity (Kozier et al. 2004:344).

Precision
Precision in recording is a critical thinking activity because recording needs to be brief as well as complete,
yet be comprehensible (Kozier et al. 2004:344).

This article has attempted to demonstrate how critical
thinking of nurse learners could be facilitated using the
identified core cognitive critical thinking skills, their related sub-skills and the affective dispositions within the
framework of the nursing process. Nurse educators and
all those people involved in the education and training
of nurse learners are invited to take on the recommendations and engage in further research around critical
thinking within the context of the nursing profession in
order to produce competent and excellent practitioners
who are able to make rational clinical judgments and
solve problems of culturally diverse patients based on
critical thinking.
REFERENCES

Legibility/Clarity

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All entries should be legible and easy to read to prevent different interpretation errors. Signatures must also
be legible with a clearly written initial and surname.
The nurse should use only the acceptable and universal abbreviations, symbols and terms that are specified by the institution’s policy. It is important that the
nurses should regard recording also as needing critical
thinking skills that demonstrate professional responsibility and accountability (Kozier et al. 2004:343).

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31323662 nursing process

  • 1. RESEARCH FACILITATING CRITICAL THINKING WITHIN THE NURSING PROCESS FRAMEWORK: A LITERATURE REVIEW Prof MM Chabeli D Cur Associate Professor: Department of Nursing Science, University Of Johannesburg, Johannesburg Corresponding author: maryc@uj.ac.za Keywords: critical thinking; nursing process; facilitation; clinical nursing education ABSTRACT This article intends to describe how critical thinking of learners can be facilitated or infused in clinical nursing education using the identified core cognitive critical thinking skills, their related sub-skills and the affective dispositions. The desire of the researcher to apply these critical thinking skills in clinical nursing education was in response to the recommendations made by experts in critical thinking who conducted the Delphi research project about the concept analysis of critical thinking (Facione, 1990:6, 13). The recommendations made urge educators to develop programmes and teaching and assessment instruments to facilitate or measure critical thinking using the identified core cognitive thinking skills. Nurses should be critical thinkers because they deal with the lives of patients. They are faced with challenges in their daily practice which require the ability to make rational and critical clinical decisions and also make astute clinical judgment that are logical to solve health related problems. Critical thinking is understood to be purposeful, self-regulatory judgments which result in interpretation, analysis, evaluation and inference, as well as explanation of the evidential, conceptual, methodological, criteriological or contextual considerations upon which that judgment is based (Facione, 1990:2). The core cognitive thinking skills are supported and driven by the identified affective dispositions such as inquisitiveness, analytical thinking, open- and fairmindedness, flexibility, self-confidence, being systematic, truth-seeking and a mature attitude. An exploratory and descriptive approach was used to describe how critical thinking of learners can be facilitated in clinical nursing education. Since critical thinking can not be facilitated in a vacuum, the author used the theoretical framework of critical thinking identified by critical thinking experts in a Delphi study (Facione, 1990:6, 13) within the nursing process framework (Wilkinson, 1992:29) and other relevant literature to demonstrate how critical thinking can be facilitated were used. Content validity of the study is ensured based on the two theoretical frameworks. Recommendations to apply the identified critical thinking skills and the dispositions are made. OPSOMMING Hierdie artikel het ten doel om te beskryf hoe kritiese denke by leerders in kliniese verpleegonderwys gefasiliteer kan word deur die geïdentifiseerde kern-kognitiewe kritiese denkvaardighede, hul verwante sub-vaardighede asook affektiewe disposisies te gebruik. Die navorser het in reaksie op aanbevelings wat gemaak is deur kundiges op die gebied van kritiese denke wat die Delphi-navorsingsprojek oor die konsepanalise van kritiese denke geloods het (Facione, 1990:13) die behoefte ervaar om hierdie kritiese denkvaardighede in kliniese verpleegonderwys toe te pas Die aanbevelings moedig opvoeders aan om programme en assesseringsinstrumente te ontwikkel wat kritiese denke kan meet deur van die geïdentifiseerde kern-kognitiewe denkvaardighede gebruik te maak. Verpleegkundiges behoort kritiese denkers te wees aangesien hulle met die lewens van pasiënte werk. In hul daaglikse praktyk staar hulle uitdagings in die gesig wat ‘n bevoegdheid vereis om rasionele en kritiese kliniese besluite te neem asook om intelligente, kliniese oordele te maak wat logies is vir die oplossing van gesondheidsverwante probleme. Kritiese denke word verstaan as ‘n doelgerigte, self-regulerende beoordeling wat kulmineer in interpretasie, analise, evaluering en inferensie, sowel as die verantwoording van die bewysgronde, konseptuele, metodologiese, kriteriologiese of kontekstuele oorwegings waarop die beoordeling geskoei is (Facione, 1990:2). Die kern-kognitiewe denkvaardighede word ondersteun en aangedryf deur die geïdentifiseerde affektiewe disposisies, soos weetgierigheid, analitiese HEALTH SA GESONDHEID Vol.12 No.4 - 2007 69
  • 2. denke, openheid en regverdigheid van denke, buigbaarheid, selfvertroue, ‘n sistematiese ingesteldheid, ‘n soeke na die waarheid en ‘n volwasse houding. ‘n Verkennende, beskrywende benadering is gebruik om te beskryf hoe kritiese denke van leerders in kliniese verpleegonderwys gefasiliteer kan word. Aangesien kritiese denke nie in ‘n lugleegte gefasiliteer kan word nie, het die navorser gebruik gemaak van die teoretiese raamwerk van kritiese denke soos deur die kundiges in die Delphi-studie geïdentifiseer (Facione, 1990:6, 13), asook ander relevante literatuur om te demonstreer hoe kritiese denke binne die verpleegprosesraamwerk gefasiliteer kan word (Wilkinson, 1992:29). Inhoudsgeldigheid van die studie is verseker deur en gebaseer op die twee teoretiese raamwerke. Aanbevelings om die geïdentifiseerde kritiese denkvaardighede en disposisies toe te pas, word gemaak. INTRODUCTION The infusion of critical thinking skills in nursing education has been a worldwide quest of nurse educators to ensure quality improvement and quality assurance in practice. There is a great need for facilitation of critical thinking in the preparation and assessment of nurse learners to care for patients with complex culturally diverse health care needs and their families. To make rational clinical decisions about unique individual care requires nurses to stretch their thinking beyond the book knowledge. Learners have to reach out to meaningful understanding, to stretch into areas beyond comfortable concepts and be able to guide themselves by internal mental processes (Vygotsky in Mellish, Brink & Paton, 1998:32). Nurses deal with the lives of people holistically and therefore critical analysis of health related issues becomes mandatory to improve practice. Nurses who do not demonstrate a critical spirit, will not demonstrate a probing inquisitiveness, a keenness of mind, a zealous dedication to reason, a hunger or eagerness for reliable information (Facione, 1998:9; Edwards, 2003:1142). Nursing cannot afford nurses who are using strategies such as guessing, acting on inferences made from incomplete information, who are not willing to consider other people’s opinions, who are displaying disorganised thoughts, applying unreasonable criteria, using illogical reasoning for making rational, clinical judgments and who are not interested in facts, dialogue and arguments. Nurses who instead of engaging in the patients’ health problems, jump to conclusions, make closure without absolute certainty or hold their own reasoning abilities in low esteem will not be helpful in practice. An unfair, close-minded nurse who is inflexible, insensitive and ready to give up in complex situations poses a hazard to patients. 70 The days of “just carry out the doctor’s prescription without understanding the effects and side effects of the treatment” and conformity based on fear, are over. The nursing profession does not need nurses who will just carry out daily routines without question, rely on routine activities and protocols to meet the divergent health needs of patients and nurses who are counterproductive. Nurses subjecting themselves to be handmaidens of other health professions, especially when rational clinical decisions are to be made, should be history. The traditional methods of teaching and assessment that do not foster critical thinking of learners should be abandoned and approaches that encourage interactive dialogue, cooperation and collaboration among learners to stimulate their critical thinking should be used. The nursing profession needs critical thinkers to maintain the credibility of the profession through the provision of quality nursing care. The question that emerges is: which critical thinking skills do the nursing profession need to render excellent care to patients? The nursing profession needs members of the team who are not in competition with each other but are collaborating closely for the purpose of solving health related problems. The profession needs nurses who are willing to collect comprehensive and reliable information from the patient and who will identify and analyse the intended and actual inferential relationships among statements, questions, concepts, descriptions or other forms of representation intended to express belief, judgment, experiences, reason, information or opinions. Nurses should examine ideas, detect, identify and analyse underlying assumptions and arguments. The nurse may paraphrase the information to give it meaningful interpretation. Nurses should decode and justify the significance of the problem, categorise the information meaningfully and summarise complex ideas. They should be encouraged to access their own knowl- HEALTH SA GESONDHEID Vol.12 No.4 - 2007
  • 3. edge-base and experience to address a clinical problem and work out a solution to the problem. The nurse should offer various hypothesised physical, social or psychological meanings and significance, interspersed with queries to gain a better holistic understanding of the patient. Nurses should devise sensible alternatives to explore issues and should not become defensive if those alternatives do not work. Nurses should formulate categories and create frameworks within which to render quality patient care. They should be able to evaluate the significance of the evidence and explain exactly how a particular conclusion was reached or why certain criteria apply and not others. Nurses should be able to monitor and correct their actions if they were not successful. The nurse should demonstrate orderliness, diligence, patience, reasonableness, persistence, willingness, flexibility and precision when dealing with health care issues (Facione & Facione, 1996:134; Facione, 1998:9; King & Kitchener, 1997: 77). Critical thinking cannot be facilitated or assessed in a vacuum for it is used to apply basic core knowledge and skills to each situation (Wilkinson, 1992:21). It requires a sound domain-specific knowledge base, integrated with interdisciplinary knowledge for processing and analysing information, weighing alternatives and deciding on actions to take in diverse clinical situations (Alfaro-LeFevre, 1999:10). Clinical nursing education is the context in this article where critical thinking skills of nurse learners are to be infused within the broad nursing process framework. Clinical nursing education is a dynamic, constantly changing, real-life environment in which theoretical knowledge is integrated with practice. The facilitator is responsible for creating an environment that is conducive to the development of critical thinking, while learners take the responsibility for constructing their own knowledge and skills through active interaction to promote critical thinking skills (Chabeli, 2001:348). Clinical nursing education forms an integral part of nursing education where the learner is able to marry the theoretical component with practice using the nursing process approach. The nursing process approach requires the nurse to systematically collect data from the patient or family during the assessment phase, making a nursing diagnosis, formulating the desired plans to solve them, initiating the plan or assigning others to implement it, and evaluating the extent to which the plan was effec- tive in resolving the identified problems. At every phase of the nursing process, the nurse works closely with the patient to individualise care and build a relationship of mutual trust and respect (Kozier, Erb, Berman & Snyder, 2004:243). The teaching and learning activities for critical thinking, if carefully planned, will form an integral part of the teaching and learning experience for learners rather than be taken as something that distracts learners from the business of learning. The type and quality of instruction or assessment can influence whether learners will adopt a merely reproductive style or rather deep-holistic strategies of understanding (Quinn, 2000:200). Unfortunately, educators are not usually prepared by their training for such dynamic flux, unpredictability and complexity. Paul (1993:97) is of the opinion that educators are in the firing line when instructing or assessing critical thinking of learners in practice. Educators should be willing to bring rigour to their own disciplined critical thinking in order to help learners to attain this ideal. Educators must be willing to role model their critical thinking abilities so that learners can internalise these skills and become confident in their instruction and assessment activities. These are, according to Paul (1993:97), profound challenges to the profession since critical thinking is at the heart of well-conceived educational reform and restructuring because it is at the heart of the educational changes of the 21st century. It is hoped that the core cognitive critical thinking attributes will assist nurse educators to facilitate critical thinking of nurse learners during instruction or assessment. THE PROBLEM OR POINT AT ISSUE Much is being said about how critical thinking should be facilitated, but exactly how critical thinking should be facilitated or assessed to identify the empirical indicators to demonstrate that critical thinking has taken place, are under-researched in clinical nursing education (Kamin, O’Sullivan, Younger & Deterding, 2001:2735; Beckie, Lowry & Barnett, 2001:18-26; Carolee & Marilyn, 2003:1-9; Miller, 1992:1401-1407; Angela, Duffey & Belyea, 2000:219-228). The results of these studies do not indicate the evidential reasoning of the critical thinking process and the outcomes that are to be assessed, that is, the pres- HEALTH SA GESONDHEID Vol.12 No.4 - 2007 71
  • 4. ence of critical thinking (Carolee & Marilyn, 2003:3). Bowden (1988:24-25) notes that typical instruction and assessment methods normally enhance passive, reproductive forms of learning, whilst at the same time hide the inadequate understanding caused by such forms of learning and assessment. Therefore, though learners may successfully negotiate the assessment system by being successful in their examinations, they end their educational experiences as uncritical thinkers with little or no understanding of what they have learnt. They are unable to use the acquired information to manage their affairs, improve practice and deal with the real world. Thus educators’ theoretical intentions are not mirrored in the learners’ practice. of the nursing process for the benefit of the patient. The emerging research question to guide this paper is: how can critical thinking of nurse learners be facilitated using the nursing process framework? Critical thinking is one of the core cognitive competencies required for learners to become metalearners with the aim of being self-directed lifelong learners. Metalearning refers to the ability of the learners to plan, execute, monitor and evaluate their own learning and develop an awareness of their mental or cognitive abilities (Slabbert, 1991:88). The nursing process is regarded as a vehicle to facilitate critical thinking. The development of the learner’s critical thinking skills is mandatory since nursing is a challenging, complex and culturally diverse hands-on profession that requires astute power of clinical judgment, decision-making and problem-solving skills in nursing practice. The assumptions of the researcher In spite of the benefits of the nursing process in facilitating critical thinking, nurse educators seem unable to implement and manage the approach. The nursing process and its administrative implementation are heavily criticised as time-consuming for nurses. It is argued that the role of nurses is to provide care and not to be heavily engaged with the lengthy administrative records involved with the nursing process (Field, in Varcoe 1996:123). Varcoe’s argument is that there is confusion between the theoretical critique of the nursing process and the critique of the administrative implementation such as documentation. Critical thinking cannot be facilitated when the nursing process is used in a robotic and dogmatic way, where nurses are mechanically efficient as evidenced by focusing on routine, mass production, assembly-line, task-orientated methods to provide efficient patient care (Karola, 1995:36). It is for this reason that this paper seeks to describe the core cognitive critical thinking skills and the judicious use of these skills within the framework 72 Purpose and objectives The purpose of the paper is to describe how critical thinking of nurse learners can be facilitated using the framework of the nursing process. This purpose is realised by the description of the critical thinking core cognitive thinking skills, their related sub-skills and the affective disposition within the phases of the nursing process. Recommendations will be made. The researcher believes that nursing is concerned with a unique and culturally diverse whole person, well or ill. It is the very nature of the profession that demands nurses who are critical thinkers to save lives and to promote good health. LITERATURE REVIEW Varied perspectives on critical thinking exist in different contexts. Critical thinking is a complex behaviour which is much needed in practice of any discipline and for personal survival, yet to date there is no single, simple definition for it (Wilkinson, 1992:24). Brief conceptual definitions of critical thinking will be provided. Conceptual definitions of critical thinking The concept ‘critical thinking’ is derived from its roots in ancient Greek. According to Paul, Elder and Bartell (1995:1), the word ‘critical’ derives etymologically from two Greek roots: ‘kriticos’, meaning discerning judgment, and ‘kriterion’, meaning standards. Etymologically, the word implies the development of discerning judgment based on standards. The definition of critical thinking has been a concern to most authors. Its clarification has been under scrutiny for many years. Oermann (1998:322), a renowned nurse author in critical thinking, stated that clinical nursing education occurs in a dynamic, complex and challenging situation where nurses are expected to use critical thinking as a fundamental principle to guide their ratio- HEALTH SA GESONDHEID Vol.12 No.4 - 2007
  • 5. nal decision-making process and clinical judgment logically in a systematic manner. Nurse authors adopted a definition of critical thinking, adapted from the American Philosophical Association’s Delphi study conducted in 1990, describing critical thinking as the process of purposeful, self-regulatory judgment that includes the cognitive skills of interpretation, analysis, evaluation, inference, explanation, self-regulation and the related dispositions (Oermann, 1998:322; Edwards, 2003:1144; Spelic, Parsons, Hercinger, Beckie et al. 2001:18; Facione & Facione, 1996:130). This definition characterises the daily functioning of a professional nurse responsible and accountable for own actions, omissions and commissions. The American Philosophical Association’s definition of critical thinking links with almost all the definitions of critical thinking as defined by other authors indicated below. The underlying common characteristic of the definition of critical thinking is the use of core cognitive thinking skills and justification based on evidence. These cognitive thinking skills are guided by the affective critical thinking dispositions such as willingness, inquisitiveness, open-mindedness, being systematic, flexible, truth seeking and developing cognitive maturity demonstrated by perseverance, tolerance, honesty and fairmindedness for the purpose of making rational decisions and solving problems in practice or in real life situations. If one has to break down a cognitive thinking skill like analysis, one will realise that many thinking techniques are involved during the process of analysis such as, first having to identify concepts, assumptions, claims, thoughts and feelings, then examine, categorise each cluster of information and re-examine for better understanding or clarity. It is therefore important that further clarification of the core cognitive thinking skills be made later in this paper. According to Bandman and Bandman (1988:5, 6) critical thinking is the rational examination of ideas, inferences, assumptions, principles, arguments, conclusions, issues, statements, beliefs and actions. This examination covers scientific reasoning (inductive and deductive), including the nursing process where decision-making and problem solving of controversial issues are addressed. To elaborate on this definition, Bandman and Bandman note that critical thinking is reasoning in which nurses analyse the use of language, formulate problems, clarify and explicate assumptions, weigh evidence, evaluate conclusions, discriminate between good and bad arguments, check inferences for plausibility and seek to justify those claims, beliefs, decisions, facts and values that result in credible beliefs and actions. The researcher agrees with the authors since nurses seek reasons for their thoughts, actions and feelings. Nurses develop criteria and principles that effectively justify their value judgments by asking relevant and challenging questions, questioning assumptions, assessing, investigating, inquiring and solving complex health care problems of culturally diverse patients. Critical thinking is also defined as a goal-oriented, purposeful mental activity involving a number of intellectual skills such as analysing, making inferences, clarifying ideas and evaluating the credibility of sources to make accurate clinical nursing judgments. It is both an attitude and a reasoning process (Wilkinson, 1992:9). According to Wilkinson (1992:25), the following characteristics will help to determine when critical thinking is taking place: when critical thinking is rational and reasonable, and where the thinking is based on reasons using facts and observations to draw conclusions rather than prejudice, preferences, self-interest or fears. Critical thinking is reflective in that one does not jump to conclusions or make hurried decisions but takes the time to collect evidential information, think the matter through in a disciplined manner, weigh facts, make conclusions and consider alternatives. Critical thinking includes creative thinking where original ideas are created by establishing relationships among thoughts and concepts. It involves the ability to break up and transfer a concept or idea to new settings or uses. Critical thinking involves conceptualisation, which is the intellectual process of forming concepts. Critical thinking is an attitude of inquiry. A critical thinker examines existing claims and statements to see if they are true or valid rather than blindly accepting them; critical thinkers are sceptical in a constructive manner. Critical thinkers will neither accept nor reject a belief they do not understand. They will analyse and examine beliefs, accepting them for rational reasons or rejecting those they have been holding for the wrong reasons. They are not easily manipulated. Critical thinking is fair thinking. The critical thinking learner attempts to remove bias and one-sidedness from their own think- HEALTH SA GESONDHEID Vol.12 No.4 - 2007 73
  • 6. ing and to recognise it in others. This requires learners to examine the reasons for their choices and decisions, to evaluate arguments and conclusions, create new ideas or alternatives for action, decide upon a course of action, produce reliable observations, draw sound conclusions and solve problems. It also requires an awareness of the learner’s own values and feelings and a willingness to examine the basis for them. Critical thinkers will explore the thinking that underlies their emotions and feelings, suspend judgments when they lack sufficient evidence, develop criteria for evaluation and apply them fairly and accurately, and evaluate the credibility of sources used to justify beliefs. Critical thinkers make interdisciplinary connections and use insights from one subject to illuminate and correct other subjects, distinguish facts from ideals, examine assumptions that underlie thoughts and behaviour, distinguish the relevant from the irrelevant and the important from the trivial, make plausible inferences, distinguish conclusions from the reasoning that supports them, seek out evidence and give evidence when questioned (Bandman & Bandman, 1988:6; King & Kitchener, 1997:77). The idea behind critical thinking is to find new ways of thinking and doing things so as to allow creativity and growth, personally as well as in practice. Developing critical thinking is not an easy task. It requires one to realise that these skills are important in a particular context and deciding to commit and motivate oneself to their development (Rossouw, 2003:10). Nurses deal with the lives of the patients on a daily basis where crucial clinical judgments have to be made and therefore committing themselves in the development of critical thinking is mandatory. Through deductive analysis, the author defines critical thinking as a purposeful, systematic, goal-orientated mental activity that involves the core cognitive thinking skills supported by the affective critical thinking dispositions. Critical thinking is also described by the author as a reflective, creative and a constructive reasoning process that use evidential information to guide accurate, informed and rational clinical decisions and solve problems in practice. Nurses are expected to be purposeful in their actions and consciously use intellectual standards of thought processes such as precision, relevance, accuracy, 74 persistence, depth and breadth (Paul, 1993:54). Nurses have to be precise and accurate in procedures. The relevance, appropriateness, depth and breadth of both the subjective and objective data gathered play an integral part in order to render comprehensive nursing care to diverse patients. These nursing thoughts and actions require the use of critical thinking. The author is of the opinion that nurses who are critical thinkers will constantly ask questions during a comprehensive assessment of the patient, such as how accurate and relevant is the information collected, and to what extent is the information related to the previous history of the same problem. In some situations, nurses have to paraphrase what the patient has said to determine the accuracy and relevancy of the information. Such critical questions will generate in-depth information to enable the nurse to justify own decisions and actions. In this age of information explosion, and a complex, challenging and culturally diverse health care delivery system where the rights of the patients takes priority, nurse learners are expected to be inquisitive, well-informed, trustful of reason, open and fair-minded. Nurses are expected to be flexible, honest in facing personal biases, prudent in making judgments, willing to reconsider, clear about issues, orderly in dealing with complex matters, diligent in seeking relevant information, reasonable in the selection of evaluative criteria, and persistent in seeking results which are as precise as the subject and the circumstances of inquiry permit. Nursing combines critical thinking skills with those dispositions which consistently yield useful insights and which are the basis of a rational and democratic society (Facione, 1990:2, 13). This ideal is supported by Rossouw (2003:10) who asserts that for an effective democratic society or for success in almost any career in many other fields, critical thinking skills are important. For decades, nursing and nurses have been working toward the ideal of providing the best practice to individual patients using the nursing process as a scientific process, but to date, nurses have failed to develop critical thinking skills through the use of the nursing process (Botes, 2000:28). The researcher will make use of the identified core cognitive thinking skills and the related affective critical thinking dispositions to guide HEALTH SA GESONDHEID Vol.12 No.4 - 2007
  • 7. the teaching and learning of nurse learners in clinical nursing education, however, nurse educators should realise that a relaxed learning atmosphere with humour will facilitate critical thinking and help offset the fear especially during the assessment and evaluation situation. CRITICAL THINKING AND THE NURSING PROCESS IN CLINICAL NURSING EDUCATION Since critical thinking cannot be facilitated or assessed in isolation, the contextual consideration within which critical thinking is to be facilitated or assessed in this study becomes the hallmark of the activity (Facione, 1990:2; Wilkinson, 1992:21; Rolfe, Freshwaters & Jasper, 2001:72, 73; Rossouw, 2003:10; Simpson & Courtney, 2002:91). Because of the nature of work in the nursing profession, nurses must be educated and assessed to promote critical thinking. A truly educated nurse is able to use critical thinking to do something creatively with the information acquired. Through critical thinking, one is able to form rational clinical judgment about what to believe or what actions to take in a particular situation in practice (Ennis, 1985:45). The nursing process, used effectively for the intended purpose, is a powerful scientific vehicle to facilitate critical thinking. The nursing process is a special way of thinking and acting that nurses use. It is also what nurses do when giving patient care. It is a systematic, problem-solving approach used to identify, prevent and treat actual or potential health problems and promote wellness. The nursing process provides the framework in which nurses use their knowledge, skills, attitudes and values to express human caring. The nursing process is a cognitive process that involves the use of critical and creative thinking skills in problem-solving and decision-making activities. Nurses use critical thinking to apply their nursing knowledge systematically and logically to collect patient data. Critical thinking enables the nurse to determine the meaning of the data and to plan appropriate nursing care (Wilkinson, 1992:1, 2). Varcoe (1996:865) is of the opinion that the nursing process is a systematic way of thinking, while Field (in Varcoe 1996:123) argues that the nursing process is an analytical thinking process used to guide system- atic and rational decision-making in nursing practice. However, the nursing process and its administrative implementation have been criticised as time-consuming for nurses. The role of the nurse is to provide care and not to be heavily engaged with the lengthy administrative records involved with the nursing process documentation. Varcoe’s argument is that there is confusion between the theoretical critique of the nursing process and the critique of the administrative implementation such as documentation. The widespread influence of the nursing process on the nature of nursing practice has been debated for the past decade, yet the centrality of the concept has grown in the past thirty years within the educational, professional and economic arena of nursing (Hiraki, 1997:866). Critical thinking cannot be facilitated when the nursing process is used in a robotic and dogmatic way, where nurses are mechanically efficient (Karola, 1995:36). While lack of clarity regarding the definition of the nursing process poses a problem in its use, and multiple interpretations of it exist, it is argued that, with critical and judicious use, the current benefits of the nursing process could be preserved in the service of clinical nursing education to improve practice (Varcoe, 1996:124). Nurse educators have the responsibility to facilitate clinical nursing education within a broad framework of nursing process to stimulate critical thinking of learners. Nursing is concerned with the whole person, well or ill. What makes the clinical nursing education and assessment process complex and difficult for nurse learners is that human beings are unique and their clinical presentations are unique and diverse. These presentations may not reflect what Oermann (1998:322) refers to as “textbook characteristics” which were taught in the classroom. This situation leaves the nurse unsure as to what nursing intervention to use in a real-life, authentic situation where unstructured problems should be addressed. Oermann (1998:324, 327) suggests that one way to curb this problem is to apply cognitive critical thinking skills within the broad framework of the nursing process. The educator can ask thought-provoking questions that are unique to the patient’s problems. The relationship between the core cognitive thinking skills, their related sub-skills and the nursing process will be described (Wilkinson, 1992:29; Facione & Facione, 1996:133 Facione, 1990:6, 13). HEALTH SA GESONDHEID Vol.12 No.4 - 2007 75
  • 8. Description of the core cognitive critical thinking skills and their related sub-skills within the nursing process framework The core cognitive thinking skills and their related subskills were identified by experts in critical thinking in the Delphi study on the status of critical thinking directed by doctor PA Facione from 1987 to 1990. The results also included the formulation of the consensus conceptual definition of critical thinking and the characteristics of a critical thinker as already described in this text (Facione, 1990:2). The nursing process’s theo- Table 1: Core cognitive thinking skills, their related sub-skills, affective dispositions and the nursing process (Facione, 1990:6, 13; Proferto-McGrath, 2003:571; Wilkinson, 1992:29) NURSING PROCESS (Wilkinson, 1992:29) CORE COGNITIVE CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS AND SUB-SKILLS (Facione, 1990:6) Assessment Analysis Examining ideas, identifying arguments, analysing arguments Interpretation Categorisation, decoding significance, clarifying meaning Inference making; Synthesis; Hypothesise Querying evidence, conjecturing alternatives, drawing conclusions Inference making; Generalising; hypothesising Explanation – applying the plan and testing the hypothesis Stating results, justifying procedures, presenting arguments Evaluation Assessing claims and arguments Self-regulation (assessing; making criterionbased evaluations Self-examination and selfcorrection Diagnosing Planning Implementation Evaluation 76 AFFECTIVE DISPOSITIONS OF CRITICAL THINKING (Facione, 1990:13; Proferto-McGrath, 2003:571) Analycity Inquisitiveness Open-mindedness Systematicity Self-confidence Truth-seeking Cognitive maturity HEALTH SA GESONDHEID Vol.12 No.4 - 2007
  • 9. retical framework and its phases through which critical thinking of learners should be facilitated in clinical nursing education is in accordance with Wilkinson (1992:29) indicated in Table 1 below. The core cognitive critical thinking skills are bolded in the table. A description of the core critical thinking skills, their related sub-skills and the affective dispositions will be made within the framework of the nursing process for the purpose of formulating attributes that will assist nurse educators to facilitate the critical thinking of nurse learners in clinical nursing education. The generic nature of the attributes could be used widely within a given clinical nursing context, since critical thinking is a necessary outcome of all educational programs (Staib, 2003:489; South African Qualifications Authority Act, Act no 58 of 1996; South African Nursing Council 1999: Document A; Van der Horst & McDonald, 1997:6, 217). The skills reflected in Table 1 do not necessarily suggest a linear form of reasoning. The skills are employed interactively and interchangeably in the reflective-reasoning process of making judgments about what to believe or do. Simpson and Courtney (2002:93) purport that, in thinking critically, a person not only tries to determine judiciously what to do or what to believe, but is also able to apply the core critical thinking skills to the problem at hand. In other words, one may analyse one’s own inferences, explain one’s own interpretation or evaluate one’s own analysis. In practice, nurses confronted with a patient with a severed femoral artery find themselves having to implement their knowledge and skills immediately using all the cognitive and affective dispositions simultaneously to save the life of the patient. An experienced critical thinking nurse will intuitively use all the steps of the nursing process simultaneously to provide specific emergency care to the patient in any clinical situation. Even though the steps of the nursing process are discussed separately for ease in understanding them, they are actually inter-related and overlapping as indicated Figure 1: Interdependent nature of the phases of the nursing process (Wilkinson, 1992:1) HEALTH SA GESONDHEID Vol.12 No.4 - 2007 77
  • 10. in Figure 1. Assessment and evaluation occur throughout all the phases as indicated by arrows and the overlapping of the circles when more justification based on evidence is called for and to determine when the process of providing adequate nursing care is achieved. Complete, accurate data provide the foundation for the other steps – for example, the usefulness and validity of the nursing diagnosis depend greatly upon the quality of the data collected in the assessment phase (Wilkinson, 1992:41). The nurse has to be flexible in considering the first line of intervention in order of priority, while considering other alternatives and opinions in resolving the problem. The nurse has to consider orderliness and being systematic as well as persistence and precision in working with a complex situation to avoid further complications (Facione, 1998:8). The assessment phase Assessment is the first crucial step of the nursing process. It is the phase where the nurse systematically gathers comprehensive, relevant, valid, reliable and complete patient information from the patient and other credible sources in order to identify health problems, make a diagnosis, and then plan, implement and evaluate the nursing care given. The use of critical thinking during the assessment phase is demonstrated in Figure 2. The nurse uses critical thinking to identify the chief complaint and other health problems, collect information, analyse ideas and arguments, examine and interpret data, categorise and decode the significant data from the insignificant data and clarify the meaning for better understanding. The nurse has to verify the data with credible sources where there is doubt. Throughout the assessment phase cognitive thinking skills are supported by the affective critical thinking dispositions as indicated in the figure. The nurse has to be inquisitive and analytic and ask probing questions to collect a comprehensive health history from the patient. The nurse has to be open-minded, systematic when collecting data, seek for the truth, and demonstrate self-confidence and cognitive maturity to the patient and relatives so as to build a good rapport and develop a respecting and a trusting relationship with the patient. The core cognitive critical thinking skills and the subskills required during the assessment phase as identi- 78 fied in Table 1 are: Analysis (examining ideas, identifying and analysing arguments) The first part of the assessment is to identify the main or chief health problem from the patient or knowledgeable others. The nurse finds out what actually motivated the patient to seek health care. The chief complaint should be recorded in the patient’s own words whenever possible. It should describe the problem and its duration. The chief complaint gives direction to the interview that follows. Thereafter the nurse should collect the demographic data, which consists of identifying data such as the patient’s name, date, age, marital status, number of children, religion, occupation and economic status. The nurse then systematically collects comprehensive, accurate, relevant, valid and reliable subjective and objective information from the patient through observation and an interview. The subjective data consist of the present and past health history, and the family health history. The objective data are collected by observation, physical examination and examining and interpreting other measurements such as diagnostic results. Review of the body systems is made by making use of inspection, auscultation, percussion and palpation. Throughout the data collection the nurse considers the patient’s input (Lewis & Collier, 1992:30, 31). The cognitive skills of identification and analysis play an important role in this phase. Analysing entails taking apart, disassembling and deconstructing in order to perceive or establish a pattern or relationship/s (Beyer, 1988:319). It is the process of breaking up a whole into its parts to examine these in detail so as to determine the nature of a phenomenon (Paul, 1993:458). During the assessment phase the nurse learner is expected to explore, examine and analyse the information in detail in order to be able to identify the main ideas, thoughts, key concepts, clues or patterns and thereby have an understanding of the patient’s health problem. The nurse inquisitively asks logical questions to look for hidden, unstated and challenging assumptions that are taken for granted. The nurse demonstrates critical thinking competencies of analysis by identifying and analysing arguments, by identifying the purpose of data collection, by scanning the data to identify clues or patterns of significance, by examining the data or ideas to find “something germane that is, worth- HEALTH SA GESONDHEID Vol.12 No.4 - 2007
  • 11. Figure 2: Critical thinking during the assessment phase while” to the purpose of assessment, by re-examining the data to find additional supporting evidence or evidence contradicting the original inference, and by comparing and contrasting ideas and statements made by the patient to confirm the evidence found in order to establish patterns, conceptual links or other interconnections (Beyer, 1988:319). Determining the significance or insignificance of data, interpreting meaning and detecting possible inferential relationships reflect the competencies of critical thinking skills (Proferto-McGrath, 2003:571). Critical thinking abilities are demonstrated when the learner is able to determine and analyse relevant and irrelevant information. To determine reliable and unreliable information or sources and seeing similarities and differences in the data collected characterise critical thinking abilities. Critical thinking is also demonstrated when learners are able to summarise information, are able to see the structure of an argument and identify conclusions. The ability to identify critical areas, predict consequences, observe cues and behavioural patterns that add value to the collected data as well as being able to assess and evaluate sources and make decisions based on the available information demonstrate critical thinking (Beyer, 1988:185). Analysis is a process of weighing evidence and deciding if generalisations or connections based on the given data are warranted. It is imperative for nurse learners to verify data collected when there are discrepancies in the information source with the patient, significant others or any other relevant credible source. Interpretation (categorisation, decoding significance, clarifying meaning) Interpretation of data will be made when the information has been identified and critically analysed. According to Paul (1993:473), to interpret is to give one’s own conception of, to place in the context of one’s own experience, perspective, point of view, or philosophy. It is important in nursing that interpretation should be distinguished from the facts, the evidence and the situation. For example, a nurse may interpret the patient’s silence as an expression of hostility. Such interpretation may or may not be correct. More facts, evidence and justification are needed. The best interpretations take the most evidence into account. HEALTH SA GESONDHEID Vol.12 No.4 - 2007 79
  • 12. During the assessment phase, it is not enough for the nurse to state that the patient appears to be in pain. More evidence is needed to confirm the claim such as the patient adopting a curling position, facial grimace or the patient verbalising the pain. When facilitating critical thinking one should consider alternative interpretations and reconsider these interpretations in the light of new evidence. Learning involves personal interpretation, since whatever a person learns must be integrated into one’s own thinking and action (Paul, 1993:473). What a person learns must be meaningful to other people. Interpretation involves examining the phenomenon and forming conclusions, considering the implications, exploring the significance of the conclusions, generalising the findings and suggesting further studies (Burns & Grove, 2001:771). Interpretation includes weighing evidence and deciding if generalisations or conclusions based on the given data are warranted (Watson & Glaser, 1980:2). Making interdisciplinary connections by using other related subjects like anatomy, physiology, micro-biology, pharmacology, psychology, sociology, chemistry and physics will enhance the process of interpretation of data. Interpretation involves categorisation, decoding significance and clarifying meaning (Facione, 1990:6, 7). Categorisation of the collected data involves the learner’s ability to describe situations, events and experiences so that they take on comprehensible meanings in terms of appropriate categorisation, distinctions or frameworks, for example, to categorise according to the existing frameworks such as Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (Quinn, 2000:19), Orem’s self-care model or Roy’s adaptation model (George, 1985:124-136, 300318). Decoding significance means to detect, to attend to, and describe the information content for better understanding. Clarifying meaning ensures that the argument is expressed as clearly as possible so that it is easy to tell whether the premises are true, whether the logic is good and whether the argument is relevant to the assessment of the patients’ health problems. The premises of a logical argument must strongly support the conclusion – that is, one must believe in the conclusion. Clarifying requires one to outline the argument in standard format and paraphrase the argument for greater clarity (Brookfield, 1987:68). During the assessment phase of the nursing process the nurse learner should 80 demonstrate the ability to clarify and give meaning to the data collected. If there is doubt the nurse can paraphrase the sentence (Simpson & Courtney, 2002:92). Paraphrasing or restating the patient’s ideas and subjective information in the nurse’s own words or clarifying the symptoms based on the information collected indicates the occurrence of critical thinking. The assessment information must be recorded accurately in appropriate documents. Diagnosis phase Nursing diagnosing is the second phase of the nursing process which usually entails making a statement of a health problem as perceived by the nurse (Wilkinson, 1992:76, 78). Diagnosis is an intellectual activity where nurses use the diagnostic reasoning process to draw conclusions about the patient’s health status and decide whether nursing intervention is needed. Diagnosis provides the basis for giving individual care. The format of stating a nursing diagnosis is highlighted; the nursing diagnosis is presented first and includes the problem and etiological statement – for example, pain related to surgical incision. Next, the defining characteristics that cue the nurse to this specific diagnosis are listed – for example, complaints of pain, curled body posturing, groaning sounds indicating pain, unwillingness to move in bed or to ambulate. Nursing diagnoses must be listed in order of their priority. Figure 3 demonstrates the use of critical thinking skills during the diagnosis phase. During the diagnosis phase, nurses use critical thinking skills such as inference-making, where synthesising and hypothesis-making play an integral part. The nurse learner is expected to query evidence as it comes, conjecture alternatives and draw conclusions (Facione, 1990:9). Inference-making (querying evidence, conjecturing alternatives, drawing conclusions, synthesising and hypothesising) Inference is defined as the movement of thoughts that proceeds from something given, a cue or data, to a conclusion as to what that data mean or signify (Bandman & Bandman, 1988:120). For example, a twenty-five-year-old patient in an intensive care unit, certified as being brain dead by a senior neurosurgeon, has a cardiac arrest. Nurse X infers that as the patient HEALTH SA GESONDHEID Vol.12 No.4 - 2007
  • 13. Figure 3: Critical thinking and the diagnosis phase cannot recover, given that the patient is brain dead, resuscitation is futile and therefore Nurse X does not call for help. Nurse Y is committed to the oath that human life is so precious as to warrant all available efforts by a nurse to save it. She infers that the young patient’s life can be saved by resuscitation and continuous administration of oxygen to the brain cells. Therefore, Nurse Y calls for cardio-pulmonary resuscitation. Bandman and Bandman (1988:113) further state that making an inference is like leaping from the known to the unknown, a hunch, a preliminary hypothesis, or an inference that is either confirmed or disconfirmed by further data until a diagnosis is reached. Beyer (1988:112) believes that to infer is to draw conclusions, make predictions, pose hypotheses, test and explain hypotheses. Paul (1993:115), on the other hand, is of the opinion that inference is reasoning that proceeds by steps. To make an inference, according to Paul, is to think as follows: because this is so, that also is so or probably so. From the researcher’s perspective, another example of inference maybe: “I am not sure I should have this surgery. It might not even help, and it is so dangerous. I am scared”. This might be inferred as: the patient is frightened of surgery. Any defect in the inference one makes while one reasons is a possible problem in one’s reasoning. Information and situations do not determine what one will deduce from them; one creates inferences through the concepts and assumptions which one brings to situations. Inferences bring together all the various elements needed to query evidence collected, to draw reasonable conclusions and to form conjectures and hypotheses (Proferto-McGrath, 2003:571; Facione, 1990:6). Querying evidence in practice can be seen when the nurse is not content with the evidence given. The nurse recognises the information that requires support and formulates strategies to seek and gather information which might supply that support. The nurse critically examines the depth and breadth of all the collected data, states the actual and potential health problems and prioritises them. Conjecturing alternatives requires nurses to develop a set of options or alternatives for resolving a given problem. They need to synthesise and classify data into meaningful patterns and find patterns and relationships to assist in deriving accurate diagnosis. The nurse will draw out prepositions and project HEALTH SA GESONDHEID Vol.12 No.4 - 2007 81
  • 14. the range of possible consequences of decisions. Drawing conclusions entails bringing together all the various elements needed to state a reasonable diagnosis (Proferto-McGrath, 2003:571). However, the nurse may suspend judgment where there is lack of sufficient evidence because evidence is required to convince one of an argument. The nurse must demonstrate the affective critical thinking dispositions such as willingness, openness and fair-mindedness to accept new evidence from credible information sources. The nurse must also show tolerance, flexibility and genuine understanding of the patient’s opinion or point of view. Diagnostic inference calls for more knowledge, experience and insight to classify data into various themes and patterns that will assist in the planning phase (Facione, 1990:6). Interdisciplinary connection plays an integral part during the diagnostic phase to determine whether the diagnosis is physiological, social or psychological. Accurate recording of the diagnosis in a manner that facilitates the determination of the expected outcomes using the appropriate format of writing nursing diagnosis is important. Planning Use of inferences, hypothesising generalising, Both nursing diagnosis and planning make use of the inference cognitive thinking skill. In this phase the nurse takes professional responsibility to work with the patient, significant others or use other credible sources to develop individualised plans to prevent, eliminate or reduce the health problems through goals and nursing orders (Wilkinson, 1992:163). The nurse determines problems that need individually developed plans and those that can be addressed by routine interventions contained in standards of care, model care plans, protocols and other forms of preplanned, routine care. This requires critical thinking skills and creativity, as does every phase of the nursing process as indicated in Figure 4. Effective planning, like all other phases of the nursing process, depends on the accuracy of other previous steps and the ability to make interdisciplinary connections and use the insights from the behavioural and Figure 4: Critical thinking during the planning phase 82 HEALTH SA GESONDHEID Vol.12 No.4 - 2007
  • 15. physical sciences. Sound knowledge, good judgment and decision-making abilities are required to effectively plan and choose the methods the nurse will use to intervene. In addition, the nurse must use ingenuity, creativity and past experience, and must also consider the patient’s cultural health care needs and practices when tailoring a plan to meet the desired health goals, for example, adopting a squatting position during childbirth is a characteristic of some black cultures. The plan should be tailored to take note of particular nursing orders such as how, when, how long, how often, by whom and with what to provide direction in the care of the patient (Lewis & Collier, 1992:25). plan for the consultation of other health professionals for the intervention not directly related to nursing. The plan should be within the legal and professional boundaries such as: the Constitution, Batho-Pele principles, Scope of practice, patient’s charter, regulations, protocols and policies. The affective critical thinking dispositions are taken into consideration during the planning phase such as flexibility, willingness, being analytical and inquisitiveness. The plan, interventions and expected outcomes should be recorded accurately in the appropriate documents. The assessment data have to be comprehensive, complete, accurate, valid and reliable. The data have to be verified with reliable and credible sources. The diagnostic statements should be correct for the goals and nursing orders to flow logically for an individual, unique plan for the identified health problems. The goals and nursing orders serve to guide the nurse’s actions during the implementation phase and also serve later as criteria for evaluating patient progress. Planning is ongoing depending on the new information as the nurse gets to know the patient better and as the patient responds to the care given. During planning, the nurse uses more inferences, generalisation and hypothesising cognitive thinking skills to make rational mutual clinical decisions with the patient. The nurse and the patient derive goals from the diagnostic statements and identify nursing measures to achieve those goals. When generating nursing interventions, nurses use the cognitive skills of generalising, explaining and predicting. Generating nursing interventions is similar to generating hypotheses in the scientific method in that the nurse predicts the interventions most likely to achieve the patient’s health goals (Wilkinson, 1992:29-32). Implementation is the fourth phase of the nursing process in which the nurse applies the plan and puts the hypothesis to test. The nurse carries out a specific, individualised plan. Specific nursing interventions that address the nursing diagnosis are then specified such as the example made above of a patient suffering from pain. The nurse has to assess the pain half hourly, give pain medication every three to four hours as prescribed, splint incision with pillows during coughing, deep breathing and moving exercises, and position the patient comfortably according to his or her needs. Finally, one or more evaluation criteria are described that aid the nurse in determining if the goals of the treatment have been met. These include verbalisation of a satisfactory level of pain control and turning in bed without making gestures that indicate pain (Lewis & Collier, 1992:1084). It is important to note that planning of interventions should be mutual, research-based, realistic, simple and attainable, and must have measurable expected outcomes and time frames open to modifications based on new evidence (Wilkinson, 1992:166). The nurse should always create new ideas or alternative courses of action regarding events or develop a variety of different courses of action to achieve the set goals if needed. The development of the evaluation criteria that should be applied fairly and accurately to evaluate the effectiveness of the plan is necessary. The nurse should Implementation The nurse may perform or designate to other capable members the interventions that were developed in the planning phase necessary for achieving the patient’s health goals. When choosing an intervention, it is important to ask the following questions: will the intervention facilitate the patient’s progress toward a desired outcome? Has the intervention been proven through research, or is it based on experience or intuition, that is, based on immediate insight of the nurse? The feasibility of successfully implementing the intervention must be considered, as must the acceptability of the intervention to the patient and the capability of the nurse to execute the intervention safely with competence. Thereafter, the nurse ends up by recording the interventions performed and the resulting patient’s responses (Lewis & Collier, 1992:25; Wilkinson, 1992:214). Throughout the implementation phase the nurse must evaluate the effectiveness of the method chosen to implement the HEALTH SA GESONDHEID Vol.12 No.4 - 2007 83
  • 16. plan. Referrals to other professionals should also be made when the nurse anticipates that expertise in specialised areas would help the patient. Figure 5 demonstrates the use of critical thinking during the implementation phase. actions when the planned strategies do not work as anticipated. Explanation plays an integral part in the implementation phases, as it is within the patients’ rights to receive an explanation of the actions to be performed on them. Patient participation in the implementation phase plays an integral part. However, it is important to note that the degree of participation in this phase depends on the patient’s health status and the available resources as well as the type of action being considered. For example, interventions in relation to a child, a quadriplegic or an unconscious patient would be very different and will require the participation of family members. The effectiveness of the implementation phase depends largely on the nurse’s ability to create good communication and building of good rapport with the patient (Kozier et al. 2004:316). Critical thinking skills are crucial in making a quick, on-the-spot rational decision in determining whether the interventions should be dependent, interdependent/collaborative or independent/autonomous in nature (Lewis & Collier, 1992:18). The nurse has to think rapidly of alternative courses of Explanation (stating results, justifying procedures, presenting arguments) Explanation means to state the results of one’s reasoning, to justify that reasoning in terms of the evidential, conceptual, methodological, criteriological and contextual considerations upon which one’s results were based and to present one’s reasoning in the form of cogent arguments (Facione, 1990:10). When one states the results, one produces accurate statements, descriptions or representations of the results of one’s reasoning activities so as to analyse, evaluate, infer from, or monitor those results. One justifies and presents arguments based on one’s interpretations, analyses, evaluations or inferences, so that one can accurately record, evaluate, describe or justify those processes to oneself or to others, or so that one can remedy perceived deficiencies in the general way one ex- Figure 5: Critical thinking during the implementation phase 84 HEALTH SA GESONDHEID Vol.12 No.4 - 2007
  • 17. ecutes those processes. When one is presenting arguments, one is expected to give reasons for accepting some claim, to meet objections to the method, conceptualisations, evidence, criteria or contextual appropriateness of inferential, analytical or evaluative judgments. Copi (1986:482) suggests the following aspects when one asks the question “What is it that is wanted when an explanation for something is required?” An account: is a group of statements from which the thing to be explained can logically be inferred and whose acceptance removes or diminishes its problematic or puzzling character. Explanation and inference appear to be closely related because, given certain premises, any conclusion/s that can logically be inferred from them can be regarded as being explained by them. Given a fact to be explained, we say that we have found an explanation for it when we have found a set of premises from which it can logically be inferred (Copi, 1986:483). The chief criterion for evaluating explanations is relevance. Any proposed explanation is regarded as a mere hypothesis, more or less probable on the basis of the available facts or relevant evidence, and also considering the attitude taken toward the explanation in question (Copi, 1986:484). There is a continual search for more evidence to decide that question. The term ‘evidence’ refers ultimately to experience: sense experience is the test of truth for all its pronouncements. There are other criteria for deciding the worth or acceptability of proposed explanations, such as the truth, for example, having an eye witness in an accident or where it is applicable, or the verifiability of the explanation by providing additional premises (Copi, 1986:486; Woolfolk, 1990:292). Brown and Atkins (in Quinn, 2000:184) classify explanations as interpretive (that is they answer the question ‘What?’), descriptive (they answer the question ‘How?’) and reason-giving (that is they answer the question ‘Why?’). Brown (in Quinn, 2000:185) is of the opinion that when one is planning an explanation, one should decide precisely what is to be explained in the form of a question, identify any hidden variables, analyse the topic into its main parts or key points and then establish any links between these, including any rules that might be involved. Nurses care for a variety of patients and therefore better explanations have more keys and a greater variety of cognitive levels of keys. Better explanations also involve the use of examples, elaborations, qualifying statements, visual aids and rhetorical questions and are more appropriately structured. Stimulating key points are also expressed in a simple statement. Writing a summary of the key points to be used at the end of the explanation is important. The implementation process uses cognitive thinking skills such as justifying the decisions made and solving problems in clinical practice. The use of critical thinking, creative and reflective thinking skills with the related affective dispositions are crucial to the provision of safe and intelligent nursing care. A comprehensive implementation process must be specific enough and recorded accurately and legibly in appropriate documents so that everyone taking care of the patient will be able to agree on whether the set goals have been achieved and also to avoid repetition of interventions (Lewis & Collier, 1992:25). It must be explicit to enable evaluation of the effective or ineffective intervention and to decide whether referral to other health professionals is necessary. Evaluation phase Evaluation (assessing claims and arguments) Evaluation, as the fifth phase of the nursing process, is a planned, ongoing, deliberate activity in which the patient’s progress toward goal achievement and the effectiveness of the nursing care plan are determined (Wilkinson, 1992:261). Evaluation is ongoing throughout the various phases of the nursing process. The nurse evaluates whether sufficient assessment data have been obtained to allow a nursing diagnosis to be made. The diagnosis is in turn evaluated for accuracy and appropriateness to the patient’s health problem. The nurse evaluates whether the expected outcome and interventions are realistic and achievable. If not, an alternative plan should be formulated. Consideration must be given to whether the plan should be maintained, modified or totally revised in the light of the patient’s health status. The effectiveness of each intervention and its contribution to progress towards the goal are also evaluated. The patient’s progress should be documented in a systematic way according to the policy of the institution. Figure 6 demonstrates the use of critical thinking during the evaluation phase. HEALTH SA GESONDHEID Vol.12 No.4 - 2007 85
  • 18. Critical thinking is an integral part of the evaluation phase. It is used to assess the credibility of statements or other representations made by the patient. To assess claims, the contextual relevance of the information gathered should be considered. A distinction also has to be made between reasonable and fallacious inferences and the extent to which possible additional information might strengthen or weaken an argument has to be determined (Facione, 1990:8). Relevant facts have to be identified, data analysed, and hypotheses tested. When developing the criteria for evaluation, critical thinking is used to apply knowledge of other related disciplines to the specific patient’s situation in order to know what outcomes can reasonably be expected. When collecting evaluation data, one will use critical thinking to determine the significant data for the goal being evaluated, to judge the congruence between predicted and actual outcomes. For example, if one eliminating unsuccessful interventions and focusing on actions that are more effective. hypothesised during the planning phase that a particular nursing intervention would produce a desired patients’ outcome, in the evaluation phase one tests that hypothesis (Wilkinson, 1992:262). Without evaluation, nurses will not know whether the care they give actually meets the patient’s needs. Evaluation enables the nurses to improve care and to promote efficiency by where in the use of evidence. Evaluation is the process of judging or determining the worth or quality of a phenomenon. Evaluation has a logical component and should be carefully distinguished from mere subjective or imaginary performance. The elements of its logic may be put in the form of questions which may be asked whenever an evaluation is to be carried out (Paul, 1993:466), such as, do we have sufficient information about that which is to be evaluated, is the information relevant or irrelevant to the purpose of evaluation, given the purpose, what are the relevant criteria or standards for the evaluation, have we applied the criteria accurately and fairly to the facts as we know them? Blandshard (in Wilson, 1999:167) argues that the main aim of education is practical and reflective judgment, a mind trained to be critical every- Self-regulation (self-examination, self-correction) According to Facione (1990:10), self-regulation occurs when one self-consciously monitors one’s cognitive activities, the elements used in those activities, and Figure 6: Critical thinking during the evaluation phase 86 HEALTH SA GESONDHEID Vol.12 No.4 - 2007
  • 19. the results deduced, particularly by applying skills in analysis and evaluation to one’s own inferential judgment with a view to questioning, confirming, validating or correcting either one’s reasoning or one’s results. Self-regulation involves self-examination and self-correcting. The purpose of self-examination is to reflect on one’s reasoning and verify both the results produced and the correct application and execution of the cognitive skills involved. Self-correction, where self-examination reveals errors or deficiencies, is important. Learners should learn to design reasonable procedures to remedy or correct, if possible, those mistakes and their causes. Woolfolk (1990:215) states that self-regulation is a very important aspect to learners. Nurse learners must learn to regulate and manage their own lives, set their own goals, provide their own reinforcement, observe their own work, keep track of their own daily progress, keep records of it and assess their own performance by keeping reflective diaries, charts, checklists, and by recording their performance or behaviour in question. Knowles (in Mellish et al. 1998:36) states that learners with a positive self-concept have self-confidence, are self-regulatory and self-directed, taking responsibility for their own learning. They can diagnose their own learning needs, formulate their own learning outcomes, identify their own learning resources, find strategies for using these resources and assess their own progress. Critical thinkers monitor the set goals and reinforce high standards. Self-regulation makes one realise one’s potential need for examining and correcting oneself. One has the desire to excel and strive for excellence. A nurse learner who has reached a self-regulatory level works harder to strive for even greater knowledge and understanding. The nurse is motivated. This motivation is endlessly renewed (Woolfolk, 1990:314). The core cognitive thinking skills of critical thinking are continually supported by the affective dispositions. The evaluation process should also be accurately recorded. Should evaluation reveal failure to meet the set goals and expected outcomes, the nurse should re-assess, re-diagnose, replan, re-implement and re-evaluate the process, that is, the nursing process cycle begins. Recording (accuracy, completeness, precision, clarity, legibility) Although recording is generally not regarded as one of the phases of the nursing process, it plays an integral part in the process because it provides effective communication among health professionals necessary for the continuity of care and for the maintenance of quality of patient care. When staff members take over shifts, a report is handed over by the staff that was on duty to convey information about the patient for continued health care. Records are formal, legal documents usually admissible in court as evidence of the patient’s care, and thus it is important that the nurse becomes accountable for recording on appropriate documents according to the standards and policies of the institution (Kozier et al. 2004:330). Whatever form of documentation is followed, the principles of recording remain the same as indicated in Figure 7. Accuracy Accuracy when recording is important. To be accurate demonstrates that one is a thinking person. The patients’ particulars must be clearly written on the correct charts. Facts or observations rather than opinions should be clearly written, for example, the patient refused medication is a fact, whereas to write that the patient was uncooperative, is instead, an opinion or own interpretation. Patient dissatisfaction or worry about a diagnosis should be recorded verbatim and accurately, without the nurse’s interpretation. When a recording mistake is made, a line should be drawn through it and the word “mistaken entry” should be written next to the original entry with the initials or name of the nurse. The original entry must remain clearly visible. Correct spelling is essential for accuracy in recording. Incorrect spelling gives a negative impression to the reader and decreases the nurse’s credibility (Kozier et al. 2004:342). Completeness/relevance The information that needs to be recorded must be logically coherent, complete and helpful to the patient and to the health professionals. Detailed and systematic recording of the phases of the nursing process is mandatory. The patient’s progress toward the pre-determined goals must be communicated to other health professionals through completeness of recording. Completeness in recording requires thinking on the part of the nurse. Only relevant information about the patient’s health problem and nursing care should be recorded. Recording irrelevant information may be considered an invasion of the patient’s privacy. Only information that HEALTH SA GESONDHEID Vol.12 No.4 - 2007 87
  • 20. nitive critical thinking skills, their related sub-skills and the affective dispositions to produce innovative pedagogic activities such as programme development, teaching strategies and assessment tools to promote critical thinking. Nurse educators should engage in disciplinary, multi-disciplinary, interdisciplinary and trans-disciplinary research to meet the broad challenges for change in education. CONCLUSION Figure 7: Critical thinking during recording has a direct bearing on the patient’s health problem should be recorded and therefore relevant recording is a thinking activity (Kozier et al. 2004:344). Precision Precision in recording is a critical thinking activity because recording needs to be brief as well as complete, yet be comprehensible (Kozier et al. 2004:344). This article has attempted to demonstrate how critical thinking of nurse learners could be facilitated using the identified core cognitive critical thinking skills, their related sub-skills and the affective dispositions within the framework of the nursing process. Nurse educators and all those people involved in the education and training of nurse learners are invited to take on the recommendations and engage in further research around critical thinking within the context of the nursing profession in order to produce competent and excellent practitioners who are able to make rational clinical judgments and solve problems of culturally diverse patients based on critical thinking. REFERENCES Legibility/Clarity ALFARO-LEFEVRE, R 1999: Critical thinking in nursing. A practical All entries should be legible and easy to read to prevent different interpretation errors. Signatures must also be legible with a clearly written initial and surname. The nurse should use only the acceptable and universal abbreviations, symbols and terms that are specified by the institution’s policy. It is important that the nurses should regard recording also as needing critical thinking skills that demonstrate professional responsibility and accountability (Kozier et al. 2004:343). approach; 2nd edition. Philadelphia: WB Saunders. ANGELA, BF; DUFFEY, M & BELYEA, M 2000: An evidence-based project for evaluating strategies to improve knowledge acquisition and critical thinking performance in nursing students. Journal of Nursing Education, 39(5):219-228. BANDMANN, L & BANDMANN, B 1988: Critical thinking in nursing. New York: Appleton & Lange. BECKIE, TM; LOWRY, LW & BARNETT, S 2001: Assessing critical thinking in baccalaureate nursing students: A longitudinal study. Holistic Nursing Practice, 15(3):18-26. RECOMMENDATIONS BEYER, BK 1988: Developing a thinking skills program. Boston: Allyn & Bacon. Clinical nursing education is at the heart of the profession and the provision of quality nursing care must be upheld. Centre to quality nursing care is the use of critical thinking in making rational clinical decisions and solving problems. Nurse educators face challenges in facilitating or assessing critical thinking in nurse learners – especially given that they were not trained in this way. It is recommended that nurse educators be creative and innovative when using the described core cog- 88 BOTES, AC 2000: Critical thinking by nurses on ethical issues like termination of pregnancy. Curationis, 23(3):26-31. BOWDEN, J 1988: Achieving change in teaching practice (In: Ramsden, P ed 1998: Improving learning. New perspectives. London: Kogan Page). BROOKFIELD, S 1987: Developing critical thinkers. Milton Keynes: Open University Press. BURNS, N & GROVE, SK 2001: The practice of nursing research: Conduct, critique and utilization. Toronto: WB Saunders. HEALTH SA GESONDHEID Vol.12 No.4 - 2007
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